I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started reading A Map of the Edge but this book far exceeded my view of what this book could be.
Telling the story of Rick, this book is an exploration of his teenage years and the trials and rites of passage experiences that being at that age entails. Add to this the fact that it is set in one of the most liberated times in American history, the 1960s, and you know that this book is going to be a hotbed of looseness, experimentation and soul searching, perhaps leading to enlightenment in some cases and tragedy in others.
Rick comes from a fractured family with a dad who is less concerned about his son than he is about himself and a mother who has left with his two siblings with no forwarding address. Rick’s relationship with his dad is taut, like his dad’s impatience – ready to snap at any instant. It feels from the start of the book that Rick is being set up to fail at life, after a stint at juvenile prison and the threat of military school; however, there is a sense that Rick may conquer his circumstances throughout the book.
Told in the first person, we view everything from Rick’s viewpoint and despite obvious obstacles and his exposure to a hedonistic lifestyle which promises much, delivers much but can also snatch everything gained away in an instant, he is doing pretty well at life. He has some strangely positive influences in his friend, Linc and his probation officer, Leo as well as with the other people, boys and girls, who he meets when he has to change high school.
It is quite obvious that Rick is no ordinary kid. We are told that he reads a lot and whilst he is not sexually mature at the start of the novel, he is astute, intelligent and potentially gifted. He has a sensitivity rather than the crassness that teenage boys can display and is intuitive, all of which comes across in the narrative without making him seem less attractive – the girls love this and I liked him very much as a character.
A great read, truly which feels very real – but prepare yourself to be exposed to the world of 1960s teen California and all that that might involve in all its glorious technicolour and freeness.
Scuffed Granny 