In her first novel in over ten years, Jennifer Belle presents a very trustworthy and nearly unpalatable model of adolescence. Prioritizing actuality over pleasantries, “Swanna in Love” depicts feminine progress rising from fairly rotten experiences.
“Swanna in Love” particulars the trials and tribulations of Swanna Swain, a 14-year-old woman whose expectations for her triumphant remaining weeks of summer season are more and more squashed. When her mom comes to choose her up from summer season camp as a substitute of her father, Swanna should stick it out sleeping in a truck mattress together with her brother as a substitute of her luxurious New York Metropolis condominium. In hopes of each escaping her state of affairs and discovering love, Swanna seduces Dennis, a forty-year-old father, and will get what she needs. Belle has acknowledged that at the least the primary half of the premise relies on an actual expertise she had rising up.
Thus, it is sensible that one of the best function of “Swanna in Love” is Swanna’s unyielding and hyper-specific teenage voice. Her 14-year-old thoughts regularly spirals into tangents, discussing childhood reminiscences and reflecting on the present state of her fractured household. These tangents create a splendidly naturalistic expository kind. By no means do these flashbacks really feel overly explanatory or hamfisted. As an alternative, they entertain whereas concurrently explaining how Swanna ended up at these crossroads.
Earlier hints of her sad household life and her dread for the incoming college 12 months progressively turn into clear as Swanna remembers these richly textured vignettes. Each interplay between Swanna and her youthful brother is especially pleasant — these moments present a mild reprieve from the remainder of the novel’s darker themes. Nonetheless, some tangents also can appear needlessly unsavory. For instance, Swanna recalling her historical past with wetting herself feels indulgent. To Belle’s credit score, what they lack in tastefulness they make up for in characterization. These particulars add to that sense of Swanna’s teenage awkwardness. Intrusive ideas about her physique really feel as pure because the ideas she has about her mom’s infidelity. Moreover, this realism ensures that the extra absurd components of the plot stay grounded. For instance, Swanna’s mom’s new boyfriend Borislav — a broke artist who makes unappealing sculptures out of tar — initially appears laughably ridiculous. But, Swanna herself refusing to just accept his story as fact acknowledges the reader’s considerations and assures them of his actuality.
Along with her inside voice, Swanna herself shimmers with life. Moments really feel irritating however by no means insurmountable, and Swanna tackles each problem with headstrong dedication. Each state of affairs is a problem ready to be solved with Swanna’s wealth of data from teen magazines and secondary college. Swanna might imagine the world revolves round her, however her dynamism makes that true in some kind. She makes readers root for her, even when what she needs isn’t wholesome. This relatability softens the blow of the guide’s extra stomach-churning content material, and hooks the reader alongside for her journey.
“Swanna in Love” deftly captures the contradictory emotions of powerlessness and hopefulness in teenhood. Chafing in opposition to her lack of company, Swanna turns to seduction as a way of escape. Sadly, her restricted expertise means she can’t conceptualize how her effort to claim sexual autonomy doesn’t make her resistant to the untoward intentions of an older man. She views her sexual experiences as intrinsically indicative of maturity — and thus essentially at odds with somebody perceiving her as a baby. On the guide’s most tragic, Swanna cries, believing she pressured him to molest her by mendacity about her age — one thing the textual content itself contradicts knowingly when different characters acknowledge how younger she appears.
The guide by no means absolutely condemns Dennis, as a substitute leaving Swanna on this depressing place. Books will not be ethical codes to stay our lives by, however this remaining scene is nearly too heartbreaking for consolation. Leaving Dennis sans punishment and even closure feels fairly unsatisfactory to Swanna’s total character growth. As an alternative of Swanna studying about her personal vulnerability, this ending means that as a substitute Swanna simply made the wrong determination together with her boundless authority, which leaves the reader depressing and unhappy. But on the identical time, Swanna’s emotions are, depressingly, throughout the realm of actuality. It’s tough to disclaim that this predatory habits exists. But, ending with this conclusion is much less of an acknowledgement of the methods of abuse however fairly an absence of acknowledgment of her struggling.
“Swanna in Love” by no means holds again from heavy content material, however its peppy teenage tone prevents the guide from feeling too burdensome. The intense content material will not be pointless however stays unresolved, leaving the reader and Swanna unfulfilled. Nonetheless, the steadiness of ludicrous and somber content material is a effective balancing act that Belle succeeds at. Coming to know Swanna is a deal with, and it’s solely by way of Belle’s deft hand that readers depart wanting so significantly better for her.