Review: Belzhar

I just had a quick peruse of the other reviews of this book and am taken aback by the number of negative responses to it. I thought it was really good! I felt Wolitzer nailed what it feels like when you fall in love for the first time; you know that light bulb moment when you suddenly understand what all those soppy love songs were carrying on about? And you feel like your world will never be the same again - which of course it never will be.
I thought Jam’s tenacity in never wanting to loose her first love again was realistic, even if the author used the construct of magic realism to illustrate it.
And I think we would all love to have an amazing teacher like Mrs Q, who supports us and makes us look at the world in a different light. (I was lucky and did have an extraordinary English teacher, Miss Thompson who instilled in me a love of reading which I obviously embrace to this day!).
I’ll be recommending this to our students, from year 7+.

• Review
• Meg Wolitzer