Perfect World

by Brian James

From acclaimed PUSH author Brian James, a powerful, beautiful novel about growing up fast in a haunted suburban world.

Lacie's best friend Jenna wants to grow up fast. She wants to be cool and be known and be with a boy all the way. Even though Lacie isn't so sure, she follows Jenna anyway. She tries to block out her sadness. Her questions. Her fears. At first it isn't that bad. She even meets a boy whose problems are compatible with hers. But then Jenna's friendship turns fierce . . . and the perfect world comes tumbling down.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

I've written numerous children's books, including the Pirate School series and the Catkid series. I'm also the author of several novels: Pure Sunshine; Tomorrow, Maybe; Perfect World; Dirty Liar; Thief; Zombie Blondes; The Heights.

Reviews

[Jaemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the world there are many cycles, and sometimes they exist between you and you. The inner commentator never letting you speak, too afraid you'll only mess things up. The outer prtoector, trying to make you less visible, generally only make you more conspicuous. The friends who aren't real, but are better than loneliness. The truths buried in closets, because it's easier for some to pretend they never happened, even if nothing has been the same since, and the damage is still everywhere. Worrying that your haunted past will become your daunting future.

This is Lacie's world.

Her father's dead, he mother hides away in endless work, and Lacie is lost between the cracks of herself and a world in which she doesn't belong. Can't seem to fit in. Can't seem to get it right.

Bit by bit, her best friend's cruelness starts to become more apparent. Forced into agreeing to meet a boy, she soon realizes Benji is just about the only real thing in her life. Except for the ghosts.

Bit by bit, things get harder, and some get easier. Best friend Jenna is lost, but Lacie is found. Her mother begins to slowly come back, she begins to slowly move away. Away from the fake and the meanness she used to emulate. Away toward who she really is, and should be. Away towards Gretchen, returned to town after disappearing for years. Away into a perfect world, in which she does belong.

__________

This is James' third book, which I've so far read twice. When I read his newest and recognized the names, I went back to re-read the rest to find the delicate interweaving I mentioned in my Tomorrow, Maybe review.

The first time I read this book, Lacie reminded me very much of myself. The second time I read it, she reminded me of how I used to be. It was a really cool feeling to get a sense of personal growth like that from a book. Sometimes we know how far we've come in life, but not really. Re-reading Lacie's story made my own a lot more solid to me.

If you've ever struggled with yourself, family, friends, the world, you'll easily relate to Lacie's troubles with life, and will likely appreciate her story.

[Abby Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in middle school. Was ok, donated it. Have been searching for this book and thinking about it for the last 3 years. I don't know why, it was calling to me and the only memory I had of it was the name "Benji", that "Perfect" was in the title, and the book jacket design.

Reading this now at 26, having lost my dad last year (to natural causes) - I think this book just knew it would be healing for me, I just didn't know it when I read it the first time. I identify so much with Lacey and her desire to feel normal but also feeling like the world refuses to believe you could be. All in all I love this book, and will never donate it again.

[sarah a munn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique writing style that I enjoyed.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book “Perfect World” is a diverse book. The ups and downs the characters experience in this book reminds me of what actual people in the real world experience and many people do not notice them. A girl named Lacie experiences some traumatic events in her life including her father hanging himself, her best friend Jenna cutting off her friendship with Lacie, and losing the boy she has given all her love and devotion to. The book gives really good detail that is suspenseful and sad at the same time. I was interested from the beginning of the book to the end to see what Lacie was going to do with her life since it was falling apart. I would recommend this book to girls of teen years or above because of the plot line. Some people would maybe be able to relate more to the storyline at that age. Overall, a very good book.

[Hailee Gorges · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, but really depressing. The book is about a girl named Lacie Johnson who just wants to fit in with Jenna and the rest of her friends. Lacie struggles with trying to fit in. She hasn't really found out who she is yet. Everything changes when she meets Benji, her whole world changes. Everything is perfect until Benji moves away to his dad's house in Portland. She is crushed but realizes that just because he is gone doesn't mean they can’t be together. Jenna finds herself in her perfect world. I would recommend this book to girls ages 14 and older because it’s depressing but has romance.

[Kiinnie96 · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is one of my fav books bcos i relate to the main character so much and the writing is so unique in the way that it feels like youre actually inside someones brain and thinking their thoughts

[Shianne Stcroix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was beautifully written

About a girl in high school experiencing the high school things

[A.J. O'Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book, the writing wasn’t my favorite but I did enjoy the book!!

[Trinity Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my view on the world ngl

[Alden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect World by Brian James is a coming-of-age story that tells about the trials of adjusting to high school life and becoming more mature. The most interesting part of this book is how the author is a man, and yet he tells the story from a teenage girl's point of view. Lacie Johnson, the main character, has a lot of family issues. Her father committed suicide two years earlier, her mother works two jobs, and Lacie is forced to stay home to babysit her nine-year-old younger brother named Malky. Jenna is Lacie's best friend. Jenna meets a boy named Avery and he introduces her to a boy named Benji. But as Lacie and Benji become closer, her relationship with her best friend start to grow apart.

The book is written in a different way. Instead of using periods, the author uses varying amounts of periods . . similar to ellipsis mark . . like this one. A paragraph with let's say, about 16 to 20 lines of text has only a single period. The book also contains sexual acts but nothing sexually explicit. It was highly emotional and intense. Since Lacie is an artist, her descriptions of her world are highly visual. Unfortunately, the symbolism of a "perfect world” -- the immaculate, sterile houses in Lacie’s subdivision and the miniature toy houses she collects -- is repeated much too often.

Lacie Johnson. It seems that this girl needs some psychological help. She is such a weird type of person with all the ghosts, the constant mannerism of putting her fingers in her mouth, and the like. She seems so afraid of all the things around her and she wants to be alone all the time even though she is afraid to be like one. It seems like she only exists to make things around her much complicated and she will live and die engulfed with misery on her own bizarre world. Plus, I also can't help but compare Lacie and Charlie of Perks Of Being A Wallflower. They have a lot of similarities and Lacie is like a female version of Charlie. Take note: A 'weirder' female version.

I just don't get the idea why each chapter have to be entitled in random days in ascending order. The first chapter was 'day 1', the second was already 'day 14', the next one was 'day 29', then 'day 41', and so on. I don't get the pattern, if there's any. But it really didn't matter because it was pure nonsense and it has no connection to the flow of the story.

[Shaheed Rashid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I changed my rating on this book because I had read it twice. Once in sixth grade or so and the other time a few days back. So when I had first added it to my "read" column, I didn't remember a whole lot from the book, just that I liked it so I gave it 4 stars. I just now changed that to 3.
The book is depressing. Thoroughly depressing cover to cover, in and out. I found myself getting obtusely bored with the monotony of the tone of the book. It read like a long poem. One of those life-just-sucks-right-about-now-so-I'm-gonna-cut-my-wrists-open type poems. My empathy can only suffocate under your tears for so long, dude.
One theme I noticed constant throughout the novel was the mentioning of ghosts. This is not a thriller book so it was easy to spot them and wonder it's existence among the rain drops and slit wrists. On page 20 they make their debut, the chilly creatures, "...I start to fill in the background on the page where the ghost princess stares at me begging for a story to go with her sad face that is like mine." (See what I mean. Depressing. And ghostly.) Not your typical reference towards a ghost. It continues on page 25, "I wish sometimes I felt nothing the way the ghost feel nothing." Again, the author is getting at a different tone with continual ghost metaphor.
The book goes on and Lacie (main character) has troubles and the ghosts change. On page 277, "...this is what it feels like when the ghosts take you." Coming from these lonely, despaired souls that long for a body, the ghosts suddenly are abducting people. By far, the weirdest reference to ghosts in the book happens on page 269, where Lacie decides she wants to be a ghost, "...and I'm only a ghost like the trees in the winter time."
Overall, the book was not spooky, it was depressing and the constant institution of the ghosts is simply to provide an extended metaphor for Lacie's life. Her emotions, after going through so much, can only be properly expressed as a lonely, wandering soul in search of reconciliation somewhere and some how. 3 stars Brian James.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming of age book with several sexual inferences, not too graphic, but author misses an opportunity to connect the story line and make this a great book. Ends tie up too quickly with resolutions too neat at the end of the book. Still, I liked the voice and ease of writing. Don't think I would reccommend this to a teen unless they were struggling with a dad's suicide or similar situation. Short read.
from Amazon From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up - All Lacie Johnson wants to do is escape from the pain that engulfs her: the pain of her father's grizzly suicide, the pain of pretending to be what she's not, the pain of having to constantly please her shallow best friend, Jenna. When Jenna drags Lacie along on an afternoon romp with two boys, Lacie expects the worst, but she is pleasantly surprised by Benji, who seems real when everyone else is fake and has secrets as dark and upsetting as her own. Slowly, they reveal themselves to one another and fall in love, giving Lacie the strength to abandon Jenna and find a true friend in another girl. As Lacie and Benji grow closer, their relationship becomes more physical. When Benji announces that he must move to Portland to escape his abusive mother, Lacie is devastated, but just when she thinks she might end it all, she's finally able to put his needs above her own. She realizes that any world in which she is loved for who she really is can be perfect. Although the book is ultimately uplifting, Lacie's pain is raw and unrelenting. James clearly understands how debilitating depression can be for adolescents. - Ronni Krasnow, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very different type of book. The basic story is about a girl named Lacie whose father had committed suicide in their house. She is also not among the popular people at the school, although she has a very small number of friends. Some of the story deals with the oftentimes difficult nature of relationships among girls at school. Some of the story deals with her falling in love for the first time with a boy whose parents are divorced, and whose mother, whom he lives with, not being a very nice person at all.


Lacie also has to deal with the feelings caused by her father's death, her mother's being away from home most of the time, having to work two jobs, and taking care of her younger brother. Lacie is shunned by a former friend, finds a new friend, and continually has to deal with thoughts of worthlessness on her part.


What makes the book different from other books dealing with similar topics is that almost the entire book is about Lacie's thoughts. The amount of actual dialog in the book is very limited; the major emphasis of the book is on Lacie's thoughts and feelings, and that's the strength of the book.

This is a very unusual book and is worth reading for that purpose itself.

[Michelle Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was really sad. It wasn't like a pathetic sad, more of an I really wish I could do something to help her sad. In the book Perfect World, you could feel the emotions as if you were really there. It definitely is not a book for younger kids. and it's not movie making material. There are some parts in here where you question her. YOu wonder why she does the things she does by herself, when shes afraid to do them with a partner. I don't agree with her best frind Jenna on the way that she acts. I think I would freak out if I had to live in a world where I had to be perfect. If I did, I would be defined as someone "being gay" and be part of the made fun of crowd. In fact most people that I do know would to. This book tries to capture what being a teenager is like, but is far from. No one expects you to be perfect, and no one will make fun of you if you don't give in to pressure. I think that it was well written, but a very unrealastic book.

[Susan L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than Pure Sunshine.

There is wonderfully poetic language throughout the novel. The style is great, but got annoying after a while. There were just too many ellipses everywhere. Stream of consciousness is great, but I felt like I was floating the whole time I was reading it. Sometimes that's a good thing, but at some point, the story needs to be more grounded. And what was up with those ellipses that only consisted of two periods?

I like the structure, counting off the days. I also like what the story has to say about the tension between the outer self and the inner self, esp. during adolescence.

[Sinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be a cliche of what the everyday teen is going through. I left high school 7 years back and found this book to be a replay of the typical high school drama. The main character is one typical teenager, confused, alone, and curious.
I bought this book, for a teen drama read, and it delivered.
I did like 2 specific lines in the book, I enjoyed the poetic and illustrated writing.

[Clarissa Valentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is about a girl who couldnt fit in,with her bestfriend, she wants to go slow as in slow things down while her bestfriend has a different idea, she wants to move fast! her family is so quite & it makes her want to explode! theres a boy that they were trying to get her to go out with, or " hook her up with " she thinks she doesn't fit in anywhere, so she goes striving for a place that she belongs! she goes & tries to find a place. good book!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Her symbolism is absolutely wonderful. It's all written in a thoughtful and insightful manner. You're really rooting for the protagonist the whole time and you get to see her grow and change as a person. Not every single aspect of the plot is completely solved, but I think that's the point. That's how life is and I think it works very well for the book. While some is left to your imagination, this read is incredibly satisfying.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting story about a teenage girl who doesn't fit in, who doesn't play by the "mean girl" rules, and who is scared and curious about her sexuality. Lacie is coping with the suicide of her father, her best friend's changing priorities, and her first boyfriend. It's a bit melodramatic and trite, but overall a well conceived novel that will appeal to young girls.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Tomorrow, Maybe I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it is simple and the plot is interesting. On the other hand, it has the tendency to get a bit melodramatic. It tackles some controversial issues like teen sex & suicide but I think Robert Cormier or Laurie Halse Anderson tackle these controversial young adult topics better than Brian James.

[Amee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not a book for everybody as the story is intense and the MC is pretty sad and lost throughout. But the author, Brian James has a style of writing that I found appealing, the subject matter was true to life and the feelings expressed by MC Lacie were heartbreakingly familiar to those most teens feel at sometime growing up.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is good, a teenage girl healing from tragedy and forced into being both adult and child at the same time, but the unconventional punctuation made it hard to understand nuances of expression or smoothly follow the characters' thoughts.

This book contains sex and swearing, with references to alcohol, homosexuality, and smoking.

[Brittanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how Brian James writes. It's almost in prose and it's very intense and hard hitting, especially on such controversial subjects as sexuality in minors, homelessness, and drug abuse. He's such a wonderful writer!

[Elizabeth Nordquest · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were times when I wished I could tell the main character to talk to people! But while it was frustrating, the story really put you in her mindset. I am so glad I didn't give a crap what people thought of me in high school!

[Raafia · Rating 5 out of 5]

a beautiful masterpiece of Masino,that has a character full of isolated speciality and love to be an unknown. A persona has its on habitual pattern of behavior to find its own colour and choose her own canvas to paint on.
quiet good.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacie is a young girl suffering from depression following the suicide of her dad. Her mom is busy working two jobs and her best friend has become distant. Things start looking up a bit when she begins a friendship with a boy named Benji, who also feels an outsider.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on loss

[Karla Farrar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but like many of his other books weird the romance made the story all the better.

[Maxx Spiess · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was good. i guess but i had to trow up in the middle of the book because of what she was doing to herself....SO GROSS! lol

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore this book.