Anna Begins

by Jennifer Davenport

Anna Begins is a pair of Young Adult novellas, each about a girl and a boy around seventeen years old. In the title story, Melissa has an eating disorder, an absent best friend, a disconnected mother, her first sexual experience, and a story to write about all of it. Finding peer support in telling her own story, she decides to try to live the plot she is trying to write. A Million Miles Up, the second story, is an upside-down tale of teenage love. Scott and Elly try to navigate their junior year in high school. Scott wants to be famous and takes up celebrity-scale drinking. Elly just wants to be happy, but must deal with an abusive father. As both of them fall through the cracks at their school, they approach an ending neither of them can return from: Elly decides to kill her father. The two stories in Anna Begins explore the humor, frustration and depth of pain the come with the most awkward years of life: the teens.

Genres: Fiction

150 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book via interlibrary loan, and all I could think about while reading Anna Begins was, "I MUST OWN THIS BOOK!"

This book is awesome, seriously.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

ANNA BEGINS is composed of two stories. The focus is on the lives of two teens, each with personal life issues no one should have to face.

Melissa's story is told through various voices, although her voice comes through loud and clear. An overly critical mother and low self-esteem combine to create her problem. She abuses laxatives in an attempt to become the daughter her mother desperately wants, while Melissa slowly becomes the girl she doesn't want to be. She tries to make cries for help, but does anyone hear? All the people around her add their thoughts to the story, filling in the frightening facts she is too scared to reveal.

Elly's story is one of abuse. There is evidence to make what she suffers obvious to those around her, but they don't leap to her rescue. Excuses are made and heads are turned to avoid the obvious. There is one who could help her, but his love blinds him to the truth. His innocence and inexperience doesn't let him recognize the problem until it gets beyond his control. Elly's only recourse is to take matters into her own hands.

Jennifer Davenport takes readers into some very dark places in ANNA BEGINS. It is a challenging read that asks readers to focus on multiple story angles, while at the same time keeping an eye on the main character. Those who stick with it will be rewarded.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by one of my best friends, it's a collection of two novellas. Nobody writes juvenile lit books like this, but they should. The characters are dirty, complicated, and the title story has a strange, sudden, almost passive, surprisingly satisfying ending. You can't read this without remembering high school.

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found at least 3 typos in the book.
I couldn't follow the storyline or who the characters were. I finished it but was not impressed at all.
I only picked it up because if the counting crows reference.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm biased. I wrote it. I like reading it, though!

[doug bowman]

I got this because it uses a great Counting Crows song as its title