Over You

Over You.  Amy Reed.  Simon Pulse, 2013.  978-1-4424-5696-9.  $16.99.

Max and Sadie are best friends. 

“We have always understood our relationship comes first.”  

Max is the one who drives them home when Sadie is too drunk; she is the one on standby when Sadie climbs into a car full of boys; she is the one always protecting Sadie.  So when they are shuffled off for the summer from Seattle to the Nebraska commune where Sadie’s mom lives, it will be all right because they are together. Even when they encounter obvious bad boy Dylan, an attraction for both girls.  

However, when Sadie comes down with Mono, Max must carry on without her- alone.  She has never been without Sadie to care for.  She doesn’t even know who she is without Sadie and feels like she is floating through life.  But Dylan is still there, unexpectedly now next door the new yurt she must occupy since Sadie is quarantined.

Max calls herself bisexual, but there is little angst over this.  A past love is explained, but this is just a statement, not to be addressed again, even when Sadie yells it out at the first party they attend in Nebraska.  Max has a good relationship with her father, but her mother is emotionally unavailable.  It is Max that is the stronger part of the relationship, and Max who must figure out her own needs- and whether or not they include a relationship with Dylan.  It is after all, Sadie, who is also drooling over Dylan and Sadie who always gets what she wants.

Max is studying ancient literature, and each chapter is interspersed with a myth or poem that she restates to make sense of her own story.

Abortion, bi-sexual issues, drinking, drugs, Start Trek sex