Rough Patch

by Nicole Markotic

When fifteen-year-old Keira starts high school, she almost wishes she could write "Hi, my name is Keira, and I'm bisexual!" on her nametag. Needless to say, she's actually terrified to announce—let alone fully explore—her sexuality. Quirky but shy, loyal yet a bit zany, Keira navigates her growing interest in kissing both girls and boys while not alienating her BFF, boy-crazy Sita. As the two acclimate to their new high school, they manage to find lunch tablemates and make lists of the school's cutest boys. But Keira is caught "in between"—unable to fully participate, yet too scared to come clean. She's also feeling the pressure of parents who married too young and have differing parenting styles; a younger sister in a wheelchair from whom adults expect either too little or too much; and her popular older brother who takes pleasure in taunting Keira. She finds solace in preparing for the regional finals of figure skating, a hobby she knows is geeky and "het girl" yet instills her with confidence. But when she meets a girl named Jayne who seems perfect for her, she isn't so confident she can pull off her charade any longer. Rough Patch is an honest, heart-wrenching novel about finding your place in the world, and about how to pick yourself up after taking a spill. Nicole Markotic is a poet and novelist who teaches children's literature at the University of Windsor. This is her first young adult novel.

Genres: LGBT, Young Adult, Contemporary, Queer, Canada

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2017

About the author

Nicole Markotić is a poet and critic who teaches at the University of Windsor and edits the chapbook publication Wrinkle Press. She has published two poetry books, Connect the Dots and Minotaurs & Other Alphabets, as well as a fictional biography of Alexander Graham Bell, Yellow Pages. She is currently completing a novel.

Reviews

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm I wanted to love this book (the word bisexual on the first page!) but ...

Full review on my blog!

[Jenni Frencham · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing that bumped this book up from one to two stars is the bi-rep. I'm glad for a book with a bisexual main character; we certainly don't have enough of these. However, the "queer character is outed without permission, is injured/killed, and everything falls apart" trope is so worn out. There are other issues with this book as well, and I'll send you elsewhere for a more thought-out discussion: https://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.co...

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was overall mediocre but the bi rep was worth it until it surprise ended with the MC literally getting stabbed into permanent disability by a homophobe, destroying her figure skating dreams. Also, her dad abandons her and her family when he finds out she's queer. Don't bother with this trash; the Hayes Motion Picture Production Code is over and we don't need any more of this punitive tragedy bullshit.

Read here for more thorough cosigned critique: https://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol23/no3...

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Keira's voice in this novel, and the way the story explored her various identities--or, perhaps better, her various attempts to "fit" into identity categories. It feels as if the story could go on--sequel, perhaps?!

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are strengths and weaknesses in focusing a novel like this one on a quirky and somewhat socially awkward teenager who happens to be somewhat obsessed with her bisexuality and its repercussions and who also happens to be a moderately talented Canadian figure skater.  To an unfortunate degree, Keira is a very Nathanish sort of figure, endearing in her quirkiness, capable of devastating wit but disinclined to defend herself, struggling mightily with relationships as well as communication with others, and highly self-critical, to the point where she is frequently considering herself to be an idjit because of her struggles to express herself and achieve her complex aims.  As a Nathanish person myself who shares many of the quirks and communication difficulties of the heroine, I am certainly inclined to be sympathetic to her.  Yet the fact that the character is somewhat clueless herself makes the novelist unable to provide a great deal of knowledge and insight from others, since she is surrounded by other people who are just as clueless as she is.  The result is that while this is certainly not a bad novel, and I would happily read more about Keira should the author write more about her in the future, this is just not a book that I could wholeheartedly enjoy even on its own modest terms.

The plot of this book is admittedly a bit threadbare.  We begin the story at the end of summer vacation where both Keira and her best friend Sita have had their first kisses, and where Keira is a bit reluctant to explain her first crush on an older girl who worked at the camp as well as the guy who kissed her, Serge.  Throughout the course of the first part of the school year, the sophomore friends deal with communication struggles, Sita's boy-crazy ways, and the bullying that they face from older boys, including Keira's older brother Tyler.  While Keira is able to start a shy relationship with the quirky Jayne, the relationship is kept private because both Jayne and Keira are in the closet.  Naturally, though, the book aims at the titular rough patch of the climax where Keira finds herself kissed by Serge in an unwelcome fashion before outing herself by declaring love to Jayne and then being violently stabbed by Jayne's brother, which ends her career as a figure skater because of the damage done to her leg in the course of the stabbing.  The author proves herself unable to really handle the climax of the story, and that detracts considerably from the achievement of the novel.

This book is a very short novel aimed at the YA bisexual audience, and it is little surprise that the aspect of sexuality is a problematic one here.  It is problematic in large part because the novelist herself does not wish or is not able to grasp the multiple layers of the problem.  Keira (and presumably the author) blame much of her timidity when it comes to relationships on the fact that she is a closeted bisexual young woman, but there is certainly possibility that Keira is in fact a biromantic demisexual who needs some sort of emotional attachment to feel comfortable with physical affection, as she tends to resist pushing for intimacy with either boys or girls and tends to be someone whose longings are intense but whose ability to act on those longings is rather frustrated.  Unfortunately, while this book talks a lot about sexuality as it relates to gay politics, about which it has some insightful things to say, the author does not talk at all about the asexual spectrum and how that could influence Keira's romanticism.  Of particular insight is the way that Keira fears being seen as a bisexual because she thinks that it will lead to rejection both from straights and from gays, demonstrating at least some of the divides within the LGBQT+ alliance in a pointed way.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars, for the figure skating.

[Ezran · Rating 2 out of 5]

felt a bit trashy, but that's probably bc it's meant for people younger than me. that said, i did finish it, so not awful. and i love it for the representation, even if a bit cringey

[Idara Sinclair · Rating 1 out of 5]

pretty horrible but cute cover

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like it more than I really did

[FIND ME ON STORYGRAPH · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review was written for and appears in School Library Journal's April 2017 issue.

Keira has just started high school, and already her boy-obsessed best friend Sita is trying to get her a boyfriend. The problem is that Keira is not sure she wants a boyfriend; she spent the summer with a crush on a girl only to find herself in the arms of a boy, and she is now grappling with what it really means to be bisexual. She occupies her time at the ice rink training in competitive figure skating, at her after-school job cleaning dentist offices, and taking on the world alongside her precocious sister Sammie, who is a wheelchair user, while avoiding her antagonistic brother Tyler. After a blowup with Sita, Keira finds solace in new friend and romantic interest Jayne, a confident and strong-willed lesbian who is hiding her sexuality from her fundamentalist Christian family. Keira's parents are selectively supportive, encouraging her to excel at school but skirting the issue of the teen's sexuality. The writing is weak (a less compelling Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison), and the pacing is poor, with very little happening in the first half, and the highly dramatic ending feels rushed. While the prose and plotting leave much to be desired, this is one of few realistic YA novels about bisexuality. Recommended for libraries looking to amp up the B for their LGBTQ collections.

[Nadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that escalated quickly.