Jonas is struggling through a summer in NYC. It’s kind of hot, he’s kind of bored, and he’s ticked off at his dad who left his mom for another woman.
Laura is struggling a bit too. Her older brother is a total hippie, rebelling against authority, using mind-altering drugs. Her mother has shacked up with a guy closer to her brother’s age than her own. Her parents are divorced too, so she spends time commuting between her mom’s home in Woodstock and her Dad’s apartment in NYC.
Jonas and Laura meet on the subway one day, but they are truly star-crossed lovers. They have to hurdle time and space and schedules and brothers and friends to be together, not to mention the pleas of a subway “writer” (a tag artist), Max, who needs Jonas’ help to document his big project.
Subway Love had a slightly slow start. I felt lost at the beginning, because the scene seemed out of context, but once I got into Jonas and Laura’s stories, I was hooked. All the 70’s references were fun to see, and it caused me to ponder how very much things have changed in 40 years.
GUT REACTION:
I have been thinking a lot about how my gut draws me to a book or how I override my gut in regards to a bad cover or title. So I might try sharing some of my thoughts in reviews. Author Nora Raleigh Baskin is somewhat of a legend, so of course I was drawn to it for that reason. After reading the book, the cover, with Jonas and Laura and even the tagged subway perfectly represents this novel.
CONTENT:
At first this seems like your run-of-the-mill YA book (and there is nothing derisive in that comment at all), but there is some moderate use of heavy swearing. There are also quite a few mentions of recreational drug use. For that reason, I’d recommend this only for older high schoolers (or you know, grownups like me).
NOTES ON THE AUDIOBOOK:
Kate Rudd is a reader I enjoy. It was through her that I first enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars. Her reading here is just as good. Her voice is expressive and pleasing to the ear. Todd Haberkorn read the chapters that are in Jonas’ POV, and he did a great job as well.