The Best Book of 2009: Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert

Title: Ballads of Suburbia

Author: Stephanie Kuehnert

Publication Date: July 2009

Pages: 344

Source: Bought from Barnes & Noble

First Lines:

"Sirens and lights welcomed me back to the suburbs of Chicago. It seemed fitting considering they’d also heralded my exit."

Back Cover:

Kara hasn’t been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad-boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park…

Amid the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives. Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.

My Thoughts:

I was going to wait to write this review until tomorrow when I woke up, but I rolled around in bed for half-an-hour, unable to sleep, still thinking about it. I don’t know how to describe Ballads of Suburbia to those of you who haven’t read it yet, but I’ll do my best.

Ballads is a beautiful, heartbreaking novel told through creative, lyrical prose. The characters are so intense, so realistic, that they almost jump off the pages. The events that unfold throughout the book are challenging and heartrendingly tragic—but the truth is—they do exist in the world. There were points in Ballads where I had to set the book down for a moment--when a character experienced something that dredged up memories of my own high school life. There were a few times where I felt that I could identify exactly with how a character was feeling, and other times, my heart ached for a character that was experiencing something no on should ever have to go through.

You just don’t understand. I’ve heard that phrase a lot in my life, and used it probably more than I’ve heard it. If nothing else, Ballads of Suburbia left me with the overwhelming impression that there ARE people out there who do understand or, if they don’t, are willing to listen. I went through a lot of high school thinking the opposite, and I’ve known many teenagers who’ve felt the same way in some point in their life. While I learned that lesson the long and hard way, it was nice to see it reaffirmed in print. I’ve had friends who went through some of the same problems addressed in Ballads, and probably could’ve learned a thing or two from reading the book.

I was so touched, so completely moved by the book that I got out of bed to review it. I couldn’t fall asleep without writing about my feelings on Ballads. That in itself should tell you how much I loved this book. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to buy a new copy, because I plan on passing this one around to all of my friends the second I get back to college. If I had the power to do so, I would make this required reading for every teenager, if for nothing else than it so wonderfully captures the emotions and experiences of growing up.

Why did I choose Ballads of Suburbia for Best Book of 2009? Well, as much as I loved all the other books on my Top 10 list, I believe that Ballads affected me the deepest and will stay with me the longest. It was able to move me in a way no book has done for a long time, and it made me think in ways I hadn’t before. Kudos to author Stephanie Kuehnert for writing such an engrossing, wonderful book! Read it guys. You won’t regret it!

This book is part of the Holiday Break Reading Challenge.

Cover: 5 stars
Plot: 5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
Writing Style: 5 stars
Overall: 5 stars