THE GREEN OF ME

Discreet, directly experienced snatches from 17-year-old Jennifer's life to date highlight a session of night terrors at nine, a rivalry with a cousin at seven, the exhilaration of her second time on horseback, a trivial food argument with a friend, and other bits remembered now as she rides a train to Charlottesville, Virginia, and ""a date she had to keep."" As Jennifer grows up, more and more of the episodes concern her relationship with Chris Cochran, who boasts and lies to her, scores off her, worries her parents, and turns out (unsurprisingly) to be the date in Charlottesville, where Jennifer appears at last to be seeing through him, breaking out of his spell. Gauch doesn't concern herself with just how the earlier episodes add up to this moment, and the whole device of the mystery date is pretty hokey; but her montage-form does make for immediacy, and it's rare enough at this level to entice.