THE LOST LANGUAGE OF CRAZY

A teenager confronts questions of identity in this YA coming-of-age novel.

Thirteen-year-old Pilar Lasky has lived in Brooklyn with her father since her mother died. An aspiring writer, Pilar has put her feelings about life with her perky dad in a play that will soon be performed at school. But the work lacks an ending, and Pilar still needs to convince the teachers to let her play her own father. (“I believe in color-blind and gender-blind casting!” she declares to her drama teacher.) For the precocious Pilar, notions of fluid identities are everywhere. Her real name is Penelope, but she changes it every year. She has a Syrian best friend, Zeina, who is grappling with becoming Americanized. She also has Johnny: a cute boy but one whom she used to know as Jasmine before he came out as transgender. But Pilar’s sense of self is challenged when she discovers her mother’s diary. The disturbing writings reveal a confused woman and force Pilar to reconsider what people mean when they use the word crazy. The diary also discloses a devastating family secret that Pilar must confront before she can finally finish her play and discover who she really is. Laskin’s novel covers today’s most controversial topics—gender, mental illness, eating disorders, and racism—but, thankfully, never feels like an after-school special on diversity. The author’s Brooklyn feels organic and fully realized as she embraces mature plot points through Pilar’s peppy, sassy narration. (“Amusing, I guess,” the teen says, responding to one of her dad’s lame jokes, showing her talent for succinct zingers.) The inclusion of blog entries, psych evaluations, and the script for Pilar’s play attempts to vary the perspectives, but the story is strongest when it’s in the protagonist’s head, following her thoughtful and understandably convoluted reactions to a complicated world.

A bold, contemporary tale grounded by a likable and complex teen narrator.