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No Promises
The new French student at school has a totally different approach to life than fifteen-year-old Dana, but despite a certain amount of jealousy on the part of her boyfriend and a girlfriend, Dana forms a very special, rewarding relationship with Jared.
- GenresYoung Adult
173 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 4, 2024
Pamela Curtis Swallow has a lot in common with Ann M. Martin, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Kevin Henkes, and Judy Blume. All those authors fill their stories with simple details that make them feel real, and thus easier to invest in emotionally. Pamela Curtis Swallow demonstrates this ability in Leave It to Christy and Wading Through Peanut Butter, two of her early novels that draw the reader in without resorting to gimmicks or improbable twists, but she came into her own as a storyteller with No Promises in 1989. Ms. Swallow's penchant for unpretentious narrative blossoms into an experience as rich and fulfilling as real life, the excitement, love, conflict, and heartache growing stronger with each turn of the page. I respected the author already, but now I consider her a master of insight into the human heart, underrated as that insight may be by a literary community who never embraced her in large numbers. I won't soon forget No Promises.
Autumn can be a letdown for students after a summer free of school obligations. But one October morning lifts fifteen-year-old Dana McGarren out of the doldrums when she notices a new boy sitting behind her in geometry class. He cordially interrupts Dana's conversation with her best friend Lynn to introduce himself. Jared Rochet, whose family is originally from France, is a transfer student to New York. He parlays the French language comfortably, but is more American than French, and usually speaks with no accent. Jared playfully banters with Dana and Lynn from the first words they share. Lynn enthusiastically reciprocates the attention, but Dana is more reserved; she has a boyfriend, Paul, a popular, attractive member of the school band. It's Dana whom Jared hits it off with, however, friendship immediately sparking to life like a cozy fire. She doesn't mind letting Jared drive her home from school, or meeting him to converse or study, even if Paul and Lynn react somewhat nervously. Jared is no threat to Dana's boyfriend...right?
It was hearing about Dana's horse, Dusty, that first piqued Jared's interest in her. Dusty actually belongs to a neighbor, but Dana takes care of the friendly, spirited animal and is permitted to ride him whenever she wants. Jared adores horses. His family has more than enough money to purchase and keep a horse, but they haven't gotten around to doing so since moving to town, and his parents are in no hurry. Jared accompanies Dana on her visits to Dusty, and the horse likes him right away. Dusty allows Jared to take liberties he wouldn't tolerate from others, but that's Jared: horses, parents, friends, and teachers are apt to dismiss his impishness because of his good-natured wit and personality. Maybe it shouldn't surprise Dana that the more she hangs around Jared, the more uneasy Paul becomes.
The school dance is a big night. Wanting to do her best friend a favor, Dana maneuvers Jared into asking Lynn to go with him, though with a trace of disappointment that he readily does so. Paul obviously cares for Dana and accepts her friendship with Jared better than most boyfriends would, but she enjoys the spice that Jared brings to their conversations. Paul isn't boring, but he's not the deep or subversive thinker Jared is. The French-American boy gets her thoughts moving in exciting new directions, like a roller coaster ramping up speed for loop-the-loops or abrupt turns in the track. At the school party, Dana accepts Jared's invitation to dance when Paul is onstage playing with his band, and that's the tipping point for this complicated tangle of affections. Paul thinks Dana is treating him like a fool, flirting with a handsome guy and pretending they feel only friendship for each other. It's time for them all to step back and assess how they feel so they don't wade further into the weeds of half-truth and denial. Dana is free to interact with Jared now however she chooses without worrying how Paul will take it. Not exactly being Paul's girlfriend is a strange feeling for Dana, who was completely happy with him before Jared transferred to their school. But she finds that she isn't distressed about the new arrangement.
Dana's feelings for Jared go beyond superficial attraction. The French-speaking boy reads complex literature for fun and enjoys discussing it, though Dana isn't used to exercising her mind in the philosophical realm. Dusty loves having Jared and Dana to both lavish attention on him. Jared also gets along well with Dana's mother, and Dana's preteen brother Rex. A skilled guitarist, Jared starts teaching Dana to play, and his passion encourages her to put everything she has into the music she creates. Learning the basics is hard work, but Dana doesn't mind slow progress with a teacher like Jared. The better she gets to know him, the more she feels she's missing something when she's with Paul instead. Are she and Jared falling in love?
Paul and Lynn aren't happy about Dana and Jared, but they adjust to the point of not making disparaging comments or attempting to pry them apart. Dana's afternoons and evenings with Jared are filled with the grace notes essential to a close relationship, tiny truths discovered about each other like gifts opened on Christmas morning. Thanksgiving comes and goes, and soon winter vacation is upon them. Jared leaves to spend the season with family, and Dana takes pleasure in their goodbye only for the anticipation of seeing him again when the Rochets sweep back into town on December 26. But a charming tale of young love takes a turn into unexpected territory, becoming a different kind of story as life often does once we've settled in and decided we know our own ending ahead of time. Dana and Jared's experiences mean more than she thought, a portrait emerging of one brilliant stage of her life that will grow softer and sweeter with the passing years, the poignant possibility of "What if?" Hard as we try, we can't truly understand that what comes easily can go just as easily. We're always left asking why.
When someone special enters your life, it's best not to question it. Just enjoy the harmonizing of your personalities into something extraordinary. Who knows how long you'll be together, or if the chemistry will continue feeling the same way? No Promises is only one hundred seventy-three pages, but they're packed with the moments of simple, pure happiness recognizable to those who have fallen in love. Dana and Jared connect on an intellectual wavelength that lends substance to their conversation, exchanging ideas that form the foundation of their relationship. Jared loves learning but is apathetic toward school; he reads F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jean-Paul Sartre for his own enlightenment, but doesn't look forward to the drudgery of writing reports. Teachers move on too quickly, not allowing time to digest the quality thoughts that make reading so rewarding. Dana agrees: "I've always thought that it was crazy that while people are supposed to be getting educated, there usually isn't time for them to really learn things well enough to feel as if they are actually being educated...It's all so rushed." Jared's disinterest in his teachers' assignments is an outgrowth of his eagerness to learn, not a lack thereof. At least he and Dana can learn together, at their own pace and discretion regarding what they want to study. We get another glimpse into Jared's unique mind when he hangs up in the rafters of his barn an artistic mobile Dana made for him. Jared's bed is in the loft, and he wants to fall asleep watching her mobile each night. "I'll look up and see you and me in that mobile, Dana—separate pieces moving their own ways, yet together." Dana and Jared have their distinct patterns of thought and behavior, but combining the two is what makes their relationship beautiful, just as Dana combined rudimentary materials into a lovely mobile. "I never thought of it that way," Dana tells Jared. Maybe, she thinks to herself, "I'd learn to think more deeply as I spent more time with Jared." It will be a pleasure to discover themselves together, for as long as their companionship lasts.
I sensed partway through that No Promises might be Pamela Curtis Swallow's best book, but I didn't expect an emotionally transcendent work that one could read dozens of times and get more out of with each read, feeling closer kinship with the characters and more focused awe of the mystery of human consciousness. Pamela Curtis Swallow creates life in these pages, an incredible accomplishment. I wish No Promises were well-known as it deserves, for the author would be a beloved figure indeed. I will forever remember the feeling the book imparts of the delicate balance life is, the urgency of appreciating its wonders while they deign to let us grasp them. I give No Promises three and a half stars, and could probably be persuaded to round up to four. If Pamela Curtis Swallow had never penned another novel, I would love her for this one alone. A story that nurtures the spirit is a gift beyond value.
Autumn can be a letdown for students after a summer free of school obligations. But one October morning lifts fifteen-year-old Dana McGarren out of the doldrums when she notices a new boy sitting behind her in geometry class. He cordially interrupts Dana's conversation with her best friend Lynn to introduce himself. Jared Rochet, whose family is originally from France, is a transfer student to New York. He parlays the French language comfortably, but is more American than French, and usually speaks with no accent. Jared playfully banters with Dana and Lynn from the first words they share. Lynn enthusiastically reciprocates the attention, but Dana is more reserved; she has a boyfriend, Paul, a popular, attractive member of the school band. It's Dana whom Jared hits it off with, however, friendship immediately sparking to life like a cozy fire. She doesn't mind letting Jared drive her home from school, or meeting him to converse or study, even if Paul and Lynn react somewhat nervously. Jared is no threat to Dana's boyfriend...right?
It was hearing about Dana's horse, Dusty, that first piqued Jared's interest in her. Dusty actually belongs to a neighbor, but Dana takes care of the friendly, spirited animal and is permitted to ride him whenever she wants. Jared adores horses. His family has more than enough money to purchase and keep a horse, but they haven't gotten around to doing so since moving to town, and his parents are in no hurry. Jared accompanies Dana on her visits to Dusty, and the horse likes him right away. Dusty allows Jared to take liberties he wouldn't tolerate from others, but that's Jared: horses, parents, friends, and teachers are apt to dismiss his impishness because of his good-natured wit and personality. Maybe it shouldn't surprise Dana that the more she hangs around Jared, the more uneasy Paul becomes.
The school dance is a big night. Wanting to do her best friend a favor, Dana maneuvers Jared into asking Lynn to go with him, though with a trace of disappointment that he readily does so. Paul obviously cares for Dana and accepts her friendship with Jared better than most boyfriends would, but she enjoys the spice that Jared brings to their conversations. Paul isn't boring, but he's not the deep or subversive thinker Jared is. The French-American boy gets her thoughts moving in exciting new directions, like a roller coaster ramping up speed for loop-the-loops or abrupt turns in the track. At the school party, Dana accepts Jared's invitation to dance when Paul is onstage playing with his band, and that's the tipping point for this complicated tangle of affections. Paul thinks Dana is treating him like a fool, flirting with a handsome guy and pretending they feel only friendship for each other. It's time for them all to step back and assess how they feel so they don't wade further into the weeds of half-truth and denial. Dana is free to interact with Jared now however she chooses without worrying how Paul will take it. Not exactly being Paul's girlfriend is a strange feeling for Dana, who was completely happy with him before Jared transferred to their school. But she finds that she isn't distressed about the new arrangement.
Dana's feelings for Jared go beyond superficial attraction. The French-speaking boy reads complex literature for fun and enjoys discussing it, though Dana isn't used to exercising her mind in the philosophical realm. Dusty loves having Jared and Dana to both lavish attention on him. Jared also gets along well with Dana's mother, and Dana's preteen brother Rex. A skilled guitarist, Jared starts teaching Dana to play, and his passion encourages her to put everything she has into the music she creates. Learning the basics is hard work, but Dana doesn't mind slow progress with a teacher like Jared. The better she gets to know him, the more she feels she's missing something when she's with Paul instead. Are she and Jared falling in love?
Paul and Lynn aren't happy about Dana and Jared, but they adjust to the point of not making disparaging comments or attempting to pry them apart. Dana's afternoons and evenings with Jared are filled with the grace notes essential to a close relationship, tiny truths discovered about each other like gifts opened on Christmas morning. Thanksgiving comes and goes, and soon winter vacation is upon them. Jared leaves to spend the season with family, and Dana takes pleasure in their goodbye only for the anticipation of seeing him again when the Rochets sweep back into town on December 26. But a charming tale of young love takes a turn into unexpected territory, becoming a different kind of story as life often does once we've settled in and decided we know our own ending ahead of time. Dana and Jared's experiences mean more than she thought, a portrait emerging of one brilliant stage of her life that will grow softer and sweeter with the passing years, the poignant possibility of "What if?" Hard as we try, we can't truly understand that what comes easily can go just as easily. We're always left asking why.
When someone special enters your life, it's best not to question it. Just enjoy the harmonizing of your personalities into something extraordinary. Who knows how long you'll be together, or if the chemistry will continue feeling the same way? No Promises is only one hundred seventy-three pages, but they're packed with the moments of simple, pure happiness recognizable to those who have fallen in love. Dana and Jared connect on an intellectual wavelength that lends substance to their conversation, exchanging ideas that form the foundation of their relationship. Jared loves learning but is apathetic toward school; he reads F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jean-Paul Sartre for his own enlightenment, but doesn't look forward to the drudgery of writing reports. Teachers move on too quickly, not allowing time to digest the quality thoughts that make reading so rewarding. Dana agrees: "I've always thought that it was crazy that while people are supposed to be getting educated, there usually isn't time for them to really learn things well enough to feel as if they are actually being educated...It's all so rushed." Jared's disinterest in his teachers' assignments is an outgrowth of his eagerness to learn, not a lack thereof. At least he and Dana can learn together, at their own pace and discretion regarding what they want to study. We get another glimpse into Jared's unique mind when he hangs up in the rafters of his barn an artistic mobile Dana made for him. Jared's bed is in the loft, and he wants to fall asleep watching her mobile each night. "I'll look up and see you and me in that mobile, Dana—separate pieces moving their own ways, yet together." Dana and Jared have their distinct patterns of thought and behavior, but combining the two is what makes their relationship beautiful, just as Dana combined rudimentary materials into a lovely mobile. "I never thought of it that way," Dana tells Jared. Maybe, she thinks to herself, "I'd learn to think more deeply as I spent more time with Jared." It will be a pleasure to discover themselves together, for as long as their companionship lasts.
I sensed partway through that No Promises might be Pamela Curtis Swallow's best book, but I didn't expect an emotionally transcendent work that one could read dozens of times and get more out of with each read, feeling closer kinship with the characters and more focused awe of the mystery of human consciousness. Pamela Curtis Swallow creates life in these pages, an incredible accomplishment. I wish No Promises were well-known as it deserves, for the author would be a beloved figure indeed. I will forever remember the feeling the book imparts of the delicate balance life is, the urgency of appreciating its wonders while they deign to let us grasp them. I give No Promises three and a half stars, and could probably be persuaded to round up to four. If Pamela Curtis Swallow had never penned another novel, I would love her for this one alone. A story that nurtures the spirit is a gift beyond value.
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May 11, 2023Well I guess that's one way to resolve a love triangle.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews