Review: Love and Other Perishable Items

Author: Laura Buzo
Published: December 11th 2012
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Hardcover, 256 pages
Buy: The Book Depository

I don't read contemporary YA that often, but when I do, I almost always go for Australian. There's just something about the complex subtlety of their prose that pulls me right in each and every time. I first read Good Oil (title of Aussie edition) almost two years ago and it remains, to this day, one of my favorite contemporary books. It is, after all, yet another proof of how special and engrossing their writing style usually is. There must be something in the water!

This story is about 15-year-old Amelia, 21-year-old Chris and a group of young people working at a grocery store in Sydney. The narration is equally divided between Chris and Amelia, and although I definitely preferred Chris’ point of view, I felt that both their voices were captured really well.

Amelia is the girl that doesn’t really fit anywhere. Her family life is a mess and, as a rule, she isn’t getting enough attention from her parents. Chris, on the other hand, gets too much attention. He is one of those people who fill the room with their presence. Loud, very intelligent, completely messed up, extroverted and fun, he’s everyone’s favorite guy. He draws Amelia to him like a magnet and they spend a lot of time talking about books and feminism.

She's amusing - all frizzy-haired and fiery. I suspect she can, like, construct sentences and read books.

For me, processing a book that doesn’t distance itself from reality is always harder than dealing with something you know in your heart is fiction. I remember how utterly confused and conflicted I was when I first read this. I recognized its brilliance right away, of course, but it still hit too close to home in more ways then I can count.

Usually when I read a book I know exactly how I’d like it to end. I was at a loss this time because no matter how much they have in common intellectually, at the end of the day, Amelia is a kid, and Chris is… not. I was very curious to see how Laura Buzo would handle that particular mess, and I have to admit that I was very impressed, regardless of my initial (conflicted) feelings.

I could go on and on about this book because I find it much easier to write about books that I loved, but I see no point. I loved it. That's all you need to know.
I’m asking you all to read this. I promise you won’t be sorry.