Very well written, but this book is a real downer; Lemon's life just goes from bad to worse. I found it hard to read. ( )

Lemon is not your average teenager - she hates parties and other social functions, spends her time volunteering in the children's cancer ward of the hospital, reads constantly, and criticizes everyone and everything. Pegged by publishers as a modern Catcher in the Rye for girls, Lemon is hilarious, heart-breaking, crude, and hands down one of the best books I have read this year.

Lemon was Longlisted for the Giller Prize this year, and while I severly dislike Catcher in the Rye, the first few pages of Strube's novel convinced me that it was a must-read. Lemon's voice flies off the page like daggers poking holes in the false nature of the people around her. She is disgusted by her teachers, her parents, her firends, her enemies. The only person she likes is a six-year-old named Kadylak who is dying from cancer.

Lemon's attitude makes sense - she was adopted as a baby by a couple who later divorced, moved in with her adoptive dad and his new wife, watched that marriage fall apart, and is now, at sixteen, being contacted by her birth mother. Lemon's best friend, Rossi, wants desperately to be popular, and so she has sex with every boy who looks at her - something Lemon cannot understand ever wanting to do. Add to that an awful part-time job scooping ice cream, and Lemon has a lot to complain about.

Of course, drama ensues, and some seriously traumatic events occur. Through it all Lemon maintains her wit and sarcasm, even when seeing things no teenager should experience. Along with this wit comes quite a bit of swearing and other offensive language, so if you are sensitive to that, Lemon would not be for you. For me, Lemon was a wonderful book - unique in narration, laugh-out-loud funny, and touching. ( )