Awake in the World by Jason Gurley

AWAKE IN THE WORLD by Jason Gurley is a new work of young adult realistic fiction that revolves around two characters who are seniors in high school:  Zach and Vanessa.  He is dealing with the recent death of his father – due to an explosion on an oil rig – and the subsequent economic impact on his family.  Hard to believe that the company could be so cold-hearted (and not legally liable, especially in California) as to only offer a few thousand dollars of compensation.  Zach’s older brother has quit college to work full-time and Zach works as many part-time hours as he can while they both worry about their severely depressed mother and care for their younger sisters.

Zach’s true passion is drawing and art and it is only gradually that Vanessa, a much more affluent student with dreams of studying astronomy and attending Cornell, comes to know him better.  In this coming of age novel, both students are introspective, such as when Zach reflects, “sometimes it feels like the whole world is waiting to see what wallop of bad luck will hit me next; other times, I can feel them quietly rooting for me. I’m never really certain which is true when.” Vanessa, too, deals with disappointment relating to college and abandonment by her biological father.  She muses, “we’re never really alone. … I like to imagine that no matter how lost or different or lonely I feel, there’s always at least one other person who feels the same way, at the same moment.  Someone’s always awake, somewhere else in the world.”  Together, Zach and Vanessa seem to balance and strengthen each other in this novel which deftly explores adolescent relationships.