Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern is a young adult novel that follows two friends over the course of a couple of years, beginning with their senior year in high school.  The story alternates between their perspectives, but rather than use a heavy-handed first person narrative with bold chapter headings announcing the narrator, the perspective smoothly slips back and forth in a third person voice.  This gives the read a more philosophical feel and fits the book–which is more a journey than a defined story.

This voicing was captivating in the beginning and climbing inside the characters’ skins was fascinating, but at about the two-thirds mark the author began taxing the reader’s suspension of disbelief.  Some of the character’s attitudes and actions started to feel forced and there was a touch of soap opera at one point.  Perhaps it was just reader disappointment in character attitudes and actions, but as the novel wound down to a soft ending (one might want to avoid this book if one needs crisp resolutions), this reader was feeling ambivalent and quite ready to shut the covers.  A beautiful beginning for a novel that will appeal to some, but was ultimately inexplicably and oddly dissatisfying.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  11 religious exclamations; 2 mild obscenities; 7 scatological terms; 1 anatomical term.

Violence/Gore:  None

Sex/Nudity:  Reference to girls starting to dress like “slutty sisters”; male notices that a girl was “growing boobs”; general references to sex; two separate mature discussions between different combinations of characters regarding sex; teen (senior in HS) is asked if she had sex with a 23 year old and she says she did and briefly discussion ensues about sex in general terms; character refers to “period stains”; character remembers playing spin the bottle when younger and kissing, non-detailed; character jokes she is trying to grow “bigger boobs”; character says prom date said he was gay; reference to strapless bra; teenager tells another that she had sex; brief, non-detailed reference to porn and character watching porn in the past; reference to stains on sheets; report of a character having sex; female character asks a male character to lie on top of her and character is partially disrobed and touched; characters kiss.

Mature Subject Matter:

Teenage sex, physical disabilities, mental health disorders, pregnancy out-of-wedlock.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Adults drink wine; seniors in high school sneak Vodka into a prom through an elaborate scheme and many students get drunk; adults offer champagne to a teenager; teenagers sneak champagne; individuals of various ages smoke joints; medicine used as prescribed by doctor.