The List of Things that Will Not Change
By Rebecca Stead
The list referred to in the title of the book was bestowed on the main character, Bea, when her parents let her know that they were getting divorced. But this is no usual divorce; Bea's dad, it turns out, is gay, and the separation is beyond amicable. To the list her parents started -- they will always love her, etc. -- Bea continues to add as she grows. So the divorce isn't really the conflict that one might think it is. Rather, the conflict is Bea's own internal struggle to accept herself, to control her impulsivity, and to forgive herself for the mistakes she has made. The backdrop to all of this is Bea's dad's wedding to his new partner.
If this all sounds a bit too tidy and even a little cliched -- there is even a scene at the wedding where an estranged cousin causes an anti-gay scene -- it is. But Stead is a great writer who made even this predictable tale engrossing.
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