![]() ![]() The light touch with which Jocelyn handles her difficult material is best seen when Claire is declared brain-dead and taken off life support: the humanity in the author's treatment affords the reader a sense both of grief and of peace. Would You is written by Marthe Jocelyn and published by Wendy Lamb Books. Natalie reacts honestly, neither beautifully nor nobly she is initially repulsed when a nurse asks her to massage Claire's grossly swollen feet she lashes out at a boy who already (and needlessly) feels guilty. Although the plot line sounds like that of a standard weeper, the author resists the urge to magnify emotions. When Claire is hit by a car, the world changes in a heartbeat. ![]() For Natalie, it’s a fun summer with her friends nothing special. For Natalie’s amazing older sister, Claire, this summer is fantastic, because she’s zooming off to college in the fall. Jocelyn maintains a measured pace as the next few days unfold: Natalie watches her mother numb herself with tranquilizers, her father grow angry and look for someone to blame. Marthe Jocelyn is an award-winning author and illustrator who worked for many years as a toy designer before turning her hand to writing. WOULD YOU RATHER know what’s going to happen or not know A summer night. Soon-to-be-high school junior Natalie and her friends like to play "Would you." a game exemplified by the book's first lines: "Would you rather know what's going to happen? Or not know?" Abruptly everything changes: Natalie's older sister, Claire, is struck by a car and rendered comatose. ![]() The opening chapters give little hint of the intensity of Jocelyn's (How It Happened in Peach Hill) exquisitely honed novel. ![]()
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