White Lines

Apr 30, 2013 Vivien rated it 5 of 5 stars

Set in the 1980's, you would think Caitlin is living the high life. On the surface, she's a seventeen year old girl living on her own in New York City. Working as a club promoter, she parties her nights away. No curfew or parents to answer to at home. She is her own person who decides when and if she goes to school. It sounds like a dream, right? The truth is more like a living nightmare.

After undergoing years of abuse, Caitlin finally escapes her mother. Rather than take her in, Cat's father wo...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Wendy Darling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, realistic-fiction, penguin, april, 2013-publication, own-dtb-tbr, icky-subjects, gorgeous-prose, read-2013

This isn't the sort of novel that I would normally be attracted to, so I am really glad that a copy landed on my doorstep. 17-year-old Cat is living a teenager's dream in the 1980s--she has her own apartment in New York City, which is bankrolled by her neglectful father. By day, she is a fragile creature struggling with infrequent visits from her abusive mother. By night, she loses herself in the frenzied, glittering world of the club scene, where she fends off skeevy characters and succumbs to...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Merin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, read-in-2013

Drug addiction is a subject I haven't personally read a whole lot of, but the two books I have read that dealt with the topic - Crank by Ellen Hopkins and The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx - were quite eye-opening and compulsively readable. As such, I was extremely intrigued with the summary for White Lines, particularly since it seemed like there was going to be a lot more going on in this book than just the drugs. What I found in its pages was a very damaged main character who, despite her issu...more Drug addiction is a subject I haven't personally read a whole lot of, but the two books I have read that dealt with the topic - Crank by Ellen Hopkins and The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx - were quite eye-opening and compulsively readable. As such, I was extremely intrigued with the summary for White Lines, particularly since it seemed like there was going to be a lot more going on in this book than just the drugs. What I found in its pages was a very damaged main character who, despite her issues and flawed way of thinking, was someone I was completely rooting for and hoping she'd figure things out before it was too late.

This book is quite dark, and not just because of the drug use. Cat is emotionally wrecked, doesn't trust easily, and is well aware that her choices aren't the best. The book is scattered throughout with flashbacks to her childhood, when her mother would abuse her or her father would ignore her, and that added a very tangible sense of sadness to the story, even if she herself wasn't necessarily drowning in sorrow the time. Cat was a very conflicted narrator, equal parts sad and angry, mostly going through the motions. Only when she was at the club or doing drugs was she "alive" if you will (which of course was the main draw for her to the drugs in the first place), and I have to give major kudos for the way those scenes were written, in such a psychedelic fashion. The clothing, atmosphere, music and excess were nearly dripping off the page, keeping time with the chaotic and drug-infused thoughts careening through Cat's head. All of this was just utterly atmospheric and kept me thoroughly engaged the entire time.

My one complaint about this book is that the ending is rather nice and tidy, if you will. One of the things I liked most about The Heroin Diaries was when Nikki recounted just how difficult it was to get himself together and leave the drugs behind. I couldn't help but notice that, aside from a paragraph or two, that is decidedly missing from White Lines, and somehow keeps the story from being as completely fleshed out as it could have been. In my opinion, a book dealing with a subject as all-encompassing as drug abuse and addiction is shouldn't be tied up in a nice, neat bow, and I couldn't help but feel that that was precisely what happened here.

Nonetheless, if you're looking for a realistic, gritty and dark YA read that deals with a number of tough topics, do pick up White Lines. The book does a very good job of transporting you to the 1980s, complete with John Hughes movie and New Age music references that made me smile. There are no minced words when it comes to the drug use and club scenes, but all of it comes together to form a really well done book that's extremely readable and really pulls you in. I'd definitely recommend it!

An e-galley was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Apr 04, 2013 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

*This is an ARC review and will be published to my blog The Flyleaf Review closer to publication.*

When I read the synopsis for White Lines, I knew it was something I wanted to check out. Set a YA book in the 80's or 90's, the time when I actually was a young adult, and I am usually ALL over it. Especially when there are music themes. But really, White Lines doesn't really have so much a music theme as a party theme. I mean look at the title folks, that is pretty blatant. Although the exact year...more *This is an ARC review and will be published to my blog The Flyleaf Review closer to publication.*

When I read the synopsis for White Lines, I knew it was something I wanted to check out. Set a YA book in the 80's or 90's, the time when I actually was a young adult, and I am usually ALL over it. Especially when there are music themes. But really, White Lines doesn't really have so much a music theme as a party theme. I mean look at the title folks, that is pretty blatant. Although the exact year is never given, White Lines seems to be set in the late 80s (judging by the music referenced.) We are introduced to seventeen year old Caitlin, who is heavily involved in the NYC club scene, hanging out with Club Kids, the over the top party promoters who ruled the scene, and spending her nights working the door at Tunnel, the hottest club around. My knowledge on NYC during this time period is limited, but after a little investigating online, it sounds like Banansh may have based many of the characters on real life club kids and club owners. I don't know that for sure but there are a lot of similarities. Tunnel and some of the other clubs mentioned in the book were real clubs, that much I DO know. Having never been involved in the late 80s NYC party scene, this book was all kinds of fascinating. And though I didn't live in New York, a lot of what was going on up there was also going on in other parts of the country, my hometown included. So, this book triggered a lot of nostalgia for me as well.

A little more about the story: Caitlin seems to be living every teenager's dream. She's seventeen, living on her own, all expenses paid by her father, and working a prime position at one of the New York nightclubs everyone wants to get into. It's the kind of place that the stars and other beautiful people hang out at. It's one of those clubs where not just anyone can walk into. You have to be chosen, and only the people who can add something to the scene, or are very well connected, are allowed entry. And the good times roll for Caitlin every night because there are drugs-a-plenty in every direction.

But Caitlin wasn't always like this. Before her father left her mother for another woman, Caitlin lived in a swank apartment, attended a prestigious private school, and had a very normal existence. All of that changed after the divorce. Caitlin's mother, who had always been more than a little physical in her punishments went off the deep end and began to violently abuse her daughter. Social services finally intervened but instead of taking his daughter to Connecticut to live with him, Caitlin convinces her father to let her rent her own apartment in the city while she finishes school. Don't ask me why, but her dad goes for it, setting her up in a small place in the East Village. It's not too long before Caitlin finds herself getting into bars and clubs (with a fake ID procured by her best friend) and a whole new world opens up to her. In the club she can let go of her problems, she can become someone else, and with the help of a couple of new Club Kid friends, she transforms into a totally different girl. Student by day, dance club door girl and new darling by night.

Well, you can probably figure out what happens next. Late nights aren't conducive to early mornings at school and she is eventually expelled from her swank private school and sent to another swanky private school for "problem" kids of wealth. In White Lines we witness first hand Caitlin's dark downward spiral as her life spins out of control.

White Lines is most definitely a cautionary tale. It never glamorizes the lifestyle Caitlin is living, in fact, the reader is made witness to some pretty dodgy and scary stuff: drug overdoses, smarmy middle age club owners propositioning teenage girls, and backstabbing betrayals among the Club Kids. Underneath all of that is Caitlin, who may be acting like a a twenty-something living the high life, but is in reality, a very lonely and damaged young girl. There is some pretty dark subject matter found within these pages, you guys. It's an intense book and often very bleak in tone. But there is a sense of hope in the story as well. Caitlin does start to recognize how far she has sunk and she does begin to wise up up about her circumstances. It was easy to sympathize with Caitlin's life, even though I shook my head in dismay at many of her choices. But what is great about her character is she she is 100% redeemable. I never felt like she couldn't find her way out of her situation, while I was reading. There were life lessons to be learned and I always felt that Caitlin had it in her to learn them.

There is a very light romance featured in White Lines between Caitlin and a boy who also attends her school. It's not focused on very heavily but it does have it's sweet moments. There is also a nice friendship written in between Caitlin and another club goer, Giovanni. Both are messed up kids, but they both have a strong loyalty to each other and that was a nice little ray of sunshine in this intense book.

Writing wise I found Jennifer Banash's style to be very accessible and easy to read. It's not flowery and lyrical but neither is the subject matter. I haven't read her earlier series, The Elite, but I quite enjoyed how she told Caitlin's story in White Lines.

Overall, I enjoyed White Lines. I liked the setting, it was cool to read about all those famous NYC landmarks, and I loved the time period and music references (of course). But make no mistake, this book is gritty and uncensored. It's life in the fast line in all it's blazing and twisted glory.

Oh, and by the way, that cover ROCKS. That girl is exactly how I picture Caitlin to look as she stumbles around Tunnel rubbing elbows with all the beautiful people:)(less)

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Apr 23, 2013 Pinkie Pie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Blegh.

I am so thoroughly disappointed in this one. I had such high hopes for White Lines, considering it's edgy subject matter and gritty cover. The characters weren't terrible - all except Cat, anyway. And I did enjoy the wonderful atmosphere Banash created. In the end though, the writing was horribly abysmal and killed the book before it even took off.

I initially picked this book up because of the material. There aren't a lot of YA book that deal in drug addiction in a honest, authentic way, s...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Wandering Librarians rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: family, fiction, realationships, realistic-fiction, serious-issues, ya

Cate is 17 and in the Lower East Side during the 1980s. Having been removed from her mother's abusive home, Cate is under her father's guardianship, but he's put her up in an apartment of her own, and Cate lives alone and isolated during the day. At night though, she is royalty, helping to throw the wildest party as part of the New York club scene. Drugs and alcohol help Cate forget her problems for a time, and she can feel like she belongs. But Cate is beginning to feel like things might be sli...more Cate is 17 and in the Lower East Side during the 1980s. Having been removed from her mother's abusive home, Cate is under her father's guardianship, but he's put her up in an apartment of her own, and Cate lives alone and isolated during the day. At night though, she is royalty, helping to throw the wildest party as part of the New York club scene. Drugs and alcohol help Cate forget her problems for a time, and she can feel like she belongs. But Cate is beginning to feel like things might be slipping out of her control, and there isn't anyone she can go to for help.

So first of all, I think kids are going to have trouble with a sense of place. It never explicitly says what year we're in. There's lots of references to music I doubt most teens will have ever heard of, with the exception of Madonna, and movies they've never seen. Will they know we're supposed to be in the 80s? Clearly it's not present day, what with the lack of cell phones and Internet. You know what tipped me off about the time period? Paying for the subway with tokens. I don't think we can make the assumption that a story about clubs and drug use immediately says "1980s" to a teen reader. I think it would have been helpful to explicitly say that somewhere.

Cate sure was in a crappy situation. Her mother is controlling, manipulative and physically abusive and Cate is pretty messed up emotionally. It seems that her father didn't do very much to protect her. He divorced her mother and left Cate with her. When Cate's mother was finally declared unfit to take care of her, rather than taking her into his home, Cate's father thought a good idea would be to let his clearly emotionally scarred daughter live on her own and take care of herself. Yeah, this sounds like a great plan.

During the day, Cate doesn't really have any friends. She's always exhausted after being out all night and make it to school infrequently. Cate has been sent to a school for troublemakers, which separated her from her one childhood friend, Sara. Cate has been distancing herself from Sara because Sara is clearly worried that Cate's going to wind up dead, and Cate doesn't want to hear it.

At night, Cate dresses up in crazy costumes and puts on makeup and becomes and different person. She feels confident and beautiful, completely unlike her daylight self. She loves this feeling and the world of the clubs. She starts doing more and more drugs in order to capture her carefree feeling. She has a couple close calls, but she still isn't willing to leave her club world.

Seeing Cate struggle with her emotional issues was sad. I thought that was well done. Despite the horrible times with her mother, Cate can't stop from loving her. It's hard for her to say no to her mother, or refuse to meet her for lunch, even though she knows it's a bad idea. She hasn't been able to stop wanting her mother's love and approval, even though she knows she'll never get it. Cate deals with things by shutting herself off from everyone. She can't hug anyone or tell someone she cares about him. When she befriends Julian, a boy at her school who seems interested in her, Cate doesn't know how to deal with it. She feels safer getting involved with her much older boss from the club scene, who she knows doesn't really care about her.

Cate's one actual friend from the clubs, Giovanni, is falling apart, but she can't ask him what's wrong or if he needs anyone. She's completely shut off, which also makes asking for help extremely difficult. It takes extreme circumstances that force her to realize how she's shut everyone out to decide she's willing to make some changes.

You'd think that drugs would be a main part of Cate's problems, and Sara is all worried that Cate's going to die, but they were kind of in the background. Cate does drugs and has some close calls, but the drug issue didn't seem to be all that important to the book, which was kind of weird, I thought. White Lines was OK. In terms of books about drugs in the 80s, I think there are better ones, and ones that show what things were like more clearly and do less glossing over.(less)

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Apr 04, 2013 Liviania rated it 5 of 5 stars

I haven't read a novel this fierce since Stephanie Kuehnert burst onto the scene with I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE. WHITE LINES will be a revelation to anyone familiar with Jennifer Banash from The Elite series. The rich kids remain, but all soap opera antics are banished. WHITE LINES is raw, a real bleeding wound of a story.

Cat lives by herself on the Lower East Side even though she's only seventeen years old. She could no longer live with her abusive mother - the State agrees - but her father l...more I haven't read a novel this fierce since Stephanie Kuehnert burst onto the scene with I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE. WHITE LINES will be a revelation to anyone familiar with Jennifer Banash from The Elite series. The rich kids remain, but all soap opera antics are banished. WHITE LINES is raw, a real bleeding wound of a story.

Cat lives by herself on the Lower East Side even though she's only seventeen years old. She could no longer live with her abusive mother - the State agrees - but her father lives with a younger woman who doesn't like her. So he pays for her to have an apartment. Few teenagers, given free reign of their lives, would make the best decisions. Especially not in 1980s New York. Especially not when working the door to a club to make a little extra money. Especially not when the drug dealers are willing to offer a rock of cocaine to get in. Especially not when the music and the dancing and the personalities and the drugs are so much better than being alone in an apartment, remembering.

There are people who care about Cat. There's her friend Sara, who first convinced her to get a fake ID and go to a club and didn't follow her deeper. There's Giovanni, fabulous and Puerto Rican, who dresses Cat like a doll and forgets his own problems with her. There's Julian, the new kid in school, someone she could see herself with if she can stop herself from giving him the cold shoulder. There's Alexa, the coolest girl in school, who sees something in Cat - although it might just be a way to get herself closer to the top. But they're all flawed people and some of them are druggies too. Her interactions with them show what a beautiful person Cat is. She has trouble reaching out, real panic, but she doesn't give into that internal voice every time. She struggles against it and makes connections, risking the pain.

Drug addiction isn't pretty. Some people are functional addicts. Cat manages to hold down a job and manages to go to school enough not to get kicked out (even if it is a school for "special" kids). She's sort of in the best case scenario, but there are dangers lurking around the edges of her life. I was so afraid of the turns WHITE LINES could take, of the awful things that could happen to Cat. WHITE LINES is gritty in the best way. It doesn't heap humiliation or degradation upon its heroine to show the evils of her way of life. Her life is risky, and sometimes unpleasant, but not gratuitously so.

And, well, drug addiction tends to bring out the worst in people and it would be a shame to lose the best parts of Cat. There's so much potential in Cat. She's got a big voice, one that absorbs you in her life. She can be witty and clever when she's functional.

"Oh my God," I drawl, staring at Giovanni's face in the mirror. I begin to smile in spite of my annoyance. "I'm only seventeen! How old could I possibly look?" - ARC, 36

WHITE LINES was an intense read. It'll suck you into the 1980's New York club scene and make you feel like you're living it even if, like me, you weren't born until it was over. I kept my fingers crossed that somehow, someway there would be a happy ending. Somehow, someway. And the ending of WHITE LINES was a relief, a release of all the tension of the novel, healing. Cat had a tough past, lives a rough present, but she's still got a future. And a future is the essence of Young Adult. (less)

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Jan 09, 2013 Montana G. added it

White Lines was an interesting book, but it definitely wasn’t one I enjoyed. In this case, it truly was a book which I think other will really enjoy, although I didn’t like it so much.

I couldn’t stand Cat. I did feel bad for her, but the decisions and choices she made ultimately led to the problems she had. I didn’t like any other character too much, either. My favorite books are almost always my favorites because of the amazing characters. White Lines had characters that ultimately annoyed me :...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Crystal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, history, 2013

I read an ARC of this book.

This was certainly gritty as advertised. Cat is caught up in the club scene of New York with the drugs and a wild party atmosphere. I am not certain I fully understood her job though. She was supposed to stand guarding the velvet rope allowing or not allowing people access, but it seemed that she could and did wander away from her post whenever she wanted and be completely incapacitated by drugs while on the job. Why would someone pay an employee to get high? It didn't...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-books, netgalley

**This is a review of a Galley edition of this book that I was approved to read via Netgalley. All thoughts on this book are my own.**

1980's NYC. A young girl who is struggling to move past her demons as well as struggling to find a place to fit in. Throw in some drugs, booze and club kids and we have this stunning coming of age novel.

To many people her own age (and even those thinking back to our own time as a teenager), Cat is 'lucky'. She has her own apartment, no parents breathing down her...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Savannah (Books With Bite) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Taking a different direction in book, I decided to pick up a coming of age tale.
The plot of the book move a lot quicker than what I thought. Cat is alone. Literally all alone. She has been abandon by her parents and well she is living a life style that is fine for now but is slowly draining her. I like that the plot is easy to get into as well as the characters. Each chapter, the readers learn of Cat’s life and her friends. She is closed off and very scared. The plot also moves backwards into th...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Janina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-for-review-blog-tour, realistic

White Lines was a very emotional read that left my feelings scrambled. So much happens in the story that makes your heart go out to, not just the main character, but to a lot of the characters also. I am so happy that I received a copy for review from the publisher! This was a read that I didn't know what it was about or what I would think of it, but in the end, I enjoyed the story.

Like I said before, this was an emotional read. The protagonist, Cat, has had so much happen to her in her past tha...more White Lines was a very emotional read that left my feelings scrambled. So much happens in the story that makes your heart go out to, not just the main character, but to a lot of the characters also. I am so happy that I received a copy for review from the publisher! This was a read that I didn't know what it was about or what I would think of it, but in the end, I enjoyed the story.

Like I said before, this was an emotional read. The protagonist, Cat, has had so much happen to her in her past that she's basically a shell of a person. She goes through life day by day with no feelings towards anything. She's afraid to get close to people and let them in, besides her best friend. Throughout this book, I felt for Cat. I just wanted to reach through the book and give her a hug and tell her to let all those bottled up emotions OUT! I could relate to her in so many ways. Piece by piece, we figure out all the things that have happened to her and what has made her the person she has became. The relationship between Cat and her Mother is, I think, what made me feel sorry for her the most. For her to have been continuously treated that way for years and years by someone who is 'suppose' to be there for you always was horrible to see, and to also have it overlooked by her father?! That was even worse.

When Cat meets Julian for the first time, I thought things would get better. But it was kind of a gradual process. I liked Julian, but wished there was more of him in this book. He would make an appearance ever so often, but I just wished it was a little bit more.

Towards the end I do think Cat started to come to a realization. It was a slow process. Yes, some of the choices she made I thought were stupid and led to some of the things that went wrong, but I do feel she grew as a person. Also, Giovanni was another heart clincher there towards the end. We knew he had some issues while reading the book, but... Overall, I thought this was an awesome story. I would definitely recommend this book! It was emotional, but I like reading books like this.

All thoughts are my honest opinion!(less)

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Apr 08, 2013 Maggie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, 2013, ebook

I liked Cat tremendously. I thought she was a very likable, relatable character and from what I know about the NYC 1980s club scene I think the book seems quite plausible. However, I wasn't such a fan of the writing. I thought Jennifer Banash had a good idea for the story and good thoughts on how the story should move along, for the most part, but there was something in the tone or structure about the writing that I just didn't like and I can't quite pinpoint it.

This is another book that had a l...more I liked Cat tremendously. I thought she was a very likable, relatable character and from what I know about the NYC 1980s club scene I think the book seems quite plausible. However, I wasn't such a fan of the writing. I thought Jennifer Banash had a good idea for the story and good thoughts on how the story should move along, for the most part, but there was something in the tone or structure about the writing that I just didn't like and I can't quite pinpoint it.

This is another book that had a lot of supporting characters. There were lots of people at Cat's school and at Cat's life at the club and I didn't think a lot of them were necessarily essential to the story. The one character I had the biggest issue with was Alexa, the preppy goody goody from Cat's school who had never been below 14th St. (meaning she stuck to the snotty upper class parts of NYC for those of you not familiar with how NYC used to be/kind of still is a little), but is then transformed to this kind of downtown queen. Part of me liked and also disliked that there were no real redeeming characters, all of the characters, main and supporting, had their own set of issues and problems and things that make them really unlikable. The only one where that wasn't the case was Cat's friend Sara, who was kind of the moral conscience of the story, but I personally couldn't stand her.

There is a lot of drug use and drinking in the book, which I'm sure will bother some people, but I didn't think it was ever painted in a fun light. It's pretty obvious reading the book that all of the coke Cat does is ruining her life. She can barely function. And the people around her who are doing drugs aren't make the best decisions either. I won't spoil anything but this becomes even more glaringly obvious at the end of the book.

So I feel like I've covered all of the things I didn't like, what did I like? As I said I liked Cat a lot and I thought she seemed very real. I was completely rooting for her to overcome her demons with her mom and clean up her life and when she made stupid decisions I got so angry. I also liked the setting, maybe it's because I live in NYC now and I know the areas and places she was talking about and I think it really brought that era of New York City to life.

One more complaint, this one about the end of the book, so if you haven't read maybe stop now...the end, ugh, so cheesy! It was such a dark, gritty book and part of me really wanted it to have a dark gritty ending.

I received an electronic copy of this book via Netgalley for review (thank you!). All opinions, as always, are my own.(less)

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Mar 13, 2013 Krista (NawandaFiles) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, arc, penguin, 80-percent-inner-monologue, okay-nothing-special, deep-thinking, issue-book

White Lines doesn't mislead readers with it's opening synopsis. It's 100% a "gritty, atmospheric coming of age tale set in 1980s New York City." The key word is gritty. Set in the dark drug induced basements in clubs, Jennifer Banash has written a book that really goes there in terms of unapologetic realism. If I were rating the book solely based on portrayal of drugs and clubs this book would get top marks. But while the scenery and 1980s backdrop are alluring, the plot and characters didn't gr...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Emily♥ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, arc, own, read-for-review

Besides this book being a great story, it’s laced with some of the most gorgeous writing I’ve read in awhile. That is what makes White Lines a truly amazing book.

Caitlin’s story is powerful. The fast life she lives would be envied by most scene kids in 2013. Cat just kind of floats through life, never truly knowing what the hell she is doing. Just doing for the hell of it. Living life to its fullest without much meaning. Until she meets Julian, and the hard wall she’s put up slowly begins to plu...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Danielle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, arc, contemporary, can-feel-tears-coming-on, quirky, read-to-review, netgalley

Wow. After reading this, I've been left stunned, I'm speechless! White Lines is a beautiful book with this lyrical prose that just jumps out of the page, turning the images into a kind of real life movie. I mean honestly, the story line? Wow. The characters? Wow. The whole setting? WOW. What I particularly loved about the book was Cat. She made stupid mistakes, but they were real mistakes, mistakes I could see myself making in the same situation. The whole story was just...there different events...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Geraldine (starian72) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, given-for-review, reading-challenge-2013, reviewed

Originally on my blog: Stack of Hardbacks

The cover just completely drew me in with this one! I love this cover some some odd reason and even though I don't like the color purple, It worked well with the girl in the background. After reading the synopsis, I still didn't have a clear idea of what this was about. I thought this was going to be on the contemporary side of things, but it ended up not really going into that much depth when it came to that.

Let's just talk about the characters for a min...more Originally on my blog: Stack of Hardbacks

The cover just completely drew me in with this one! I love this cover some some odd reason and even though I don't like the color purple, It worked well with the girl in the background. After reading the synopsis, I still didn't have a clear idea of what this was about. I thought this was going to be on the contemporary side of things, but it ended up not really going into that much depth when it came to that.

Let's just talk about the characters for a minute. Personally, I think the characters were all over the place and there were a lot of missing holes when it came to certain parts of the storyline. I felt like the author left a lot of gaps when it came to things the characters were doing in certain scenes. I mean what was up with Julian vaguely being in the book but yet a big part of Cat's life all of a sudden? I would give more examples but I don't want to give away any spoilers. You'll know what I'm talking about when you pick this book up!

As you can see, I had some problems with this book but the biggest problem I had were the drugs. And no, I'm not talking about the presence of them in the book. I'm talking about how unrealistic the parts that involved the pills, cocaine, and heroine were. Maybe, it's because I've read a lot of drug-related memoirs when I was younger, but it seemed like the author didn't go into that much depth and explain things clearly when it came to the drugs. I've never ever done pills, cocaine, or heroine, but I do know that certain scenes described in this book are not what happens when you do these drugs. I don't know if it's because this was a young adult book, but like I said the way the drugs were explained in this book was just so vague and unrealistic to me. I just didn't feel like she was in the right mindset of a cocaine/heroine user.

As for the things that I did like, I did like Julian's presence in the story line...but why was he barely there?! I needed more of him! Also, the book was interesting enough to where I wanted to flip the page to find out what happens next. In the end, I think you should pick this up for yourself and see what you think about it.

2.5 stars overall!(less)

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Feb 08, 2013 Tara rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

So we have a really generic story of drugs and decadence in 1980s NYC. It is poorly written, with no interesting style or anything to differentiate it from the thousands of other books like it. However that isn't even why I hated it. I hated this book because the chronology is a mess and is set up only by name dropping bands and movies. I feel like it doesn't take much effort to put together a more cohesive work about a time period and location. Secondly Cat or Caitlin is grating. I didn't care...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Kimberly Peterson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Once I decide I want to read a book I don’t generally revisit the synopsis before reading it, the less I know, the better. Well I kind of forgot that the book takes place in the 80’s. There were several things that I kept thinking were kind of weird throughout the book, but it wasn’t until Cat pulled out her Walkman that the light bulb finally went on that this was actually happening in the 80’s.

There is a lot of drug use in White Lines so it’s not the easiest of reads. Cat is also incredibly se...more

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May 12, 2013 Judy (Geeky Reading) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads-won, own

~3/5
[This review is also available on my blog.]

I started this book, for some reason, not knowing that it was going to have a heavy drug plot. After I started the book and looked back at the synopsis and title, I was a bit dumbfounded on how I had missed that. I think, maybe, that I saw abuse and zeroed in on that alone.

The drug bit made me slow down at first, just because I don’t tend to really enjoy drug related things, including storylines, and I must say that I am definitely biased in that, b...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc

The funny thing about expectations is how often they're wrong. I really did not expect to like this book, because I hate reading about spoiled rich kids acting out for attention, and the reviews I'd seen had been largely middling. Actually, an unsolicited review copy arrived on the very day I decided this book wasn't for me, because the universe has a sense of humor. Anyway, I actually ended up really enjoying White Lines, which won me over for the strong voice and gritty feel.

On the surface, Wh...more The funny thing about expectations is how often they're wrong. I really did not expect to like this book, because I hate reading about spoiled rich kids acting out for attention, and the reviews I'd seen had been largely middling. Actually, an unsolicited review copy arrived on the very day I decided this book wasn't for me, because the universe has a sense of humor. Anyway, I actually ended up really enjoying White Lines, which won me over for the strong voice and gritty feel.

On the surface, White Lines is every bit the heir to novels like Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, and it's even set in roughly that era. There's the same pompous sense of style, the flair and snobbery and focus on what people are wearing. Money, drugs and alcohol flow with abundance. Parents flit through only to provide money and housing to their children, too busy with their high society lifestyles to actually parent. Immediate gratification is the main goal of these kids' lives, with questions of the future put off as something to deal with at some later date, as though the problems will melt away.

If what you want from White Lines is a depiction of the seedy club scene of the 1980s, then you will not be disappointed. Cat parties every night, and does a lot of drugs, though primarily cocaine as the title implies. Though she remains somewhat of an innocent in certain areas, she sees a lot and hears about even more. Her job as a promoter brings her into contact with a lot of shady people, most especially the owner of the club where she works, a man in his 40s who obviously has interest in her.

All of that is quite well done and solidly atmospheric, but it's not what sucked me into White Lines like Cat sucked cocaine up her nose. What kept White Lines from feeling tawdry and like a historical fiction version of Gossip Girl was Cat. Obviously, Cat is fucked up, raised primarily by her physically abusive mother, who constantly berated and hit her for not being the perfect little daughter. Cat's father ignored the situation, and eventually divorced her mother for a younger, hotter, more exotic woman, setting Cat up in a downtown apartment by herself.

While Cat struggles with a lot of emotional problems as a result of the physical abuse (fear of being touched), mental abuse (self-doubt), and neglect (feelings of being unwanted), she remains surprisingly self-aware. She knows she's doing stupid things and acting out, but doesn't want to stop. Though she suffers from depression and anger, she doesn't whine. Her primary emotion is rage and not self-pity, which is the thing I cannot stand from characters given every opportunity in life who choose to flush their futures down the toilet. Since I appreciated Cat's willingness to take her life at face value, even if she's not handling it well, I really rooted for her to come to some resolution and not to OD before she can grow up and find people who care about her.

The ending, however, came off a bit too rushed. It reads almost like an epilogue, though it's not labeled as such, jumping into the future and detailing what became of everyone in the short term. This skips a lot of details and character growth that would really have added to the emotional impact of the story. The sudden conclusion left me vaguely unsatisfied and unconvinced.

White Lines is a hard-hitting story of the dark, drug-laced 1980s club scene in New York City, and will appeal to readers who enjoy the works of Bret Easton Ellis or have an interest in that era. It's a very dark, upsetting story, but a worthwhile one. I will be curious to see what Banash tackles next.(less)

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Mar 20, 2013 Medeia Sharif rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013

As a teenager, Cat is on her own in New York City in the 80s. Her father doesn’t deal with her and her mother physically and emotionally abused her. She lives by herself in an apartment and she’s a club promoter. There are drugs, the club scene, and gritty situations, as the blurb promised. Cat lives a wild life for someone her age.

Even though I enjoyed the style of writing, the story left me cold at various points. I didn’t always connect with Cat and sometimes found the minor characters more...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Adrienne Fray rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cat’s struggle to escape the pull of her abusive mother coupled with her fear of closeness, combined with the bustling setting of downtown New York in the 1980s, gave White Lines the potential to powerfully impact the reader. Instead, I found it flatlined, meandering from one conviction to another just like its disoriented heroine.
Cat is surrounded by interesting people, all with their own damages. Julian harbors a traumatic relationship history, Angela is a paradox of doll-like perfection an...more Cat’s struggle to escape the pull of her abusive mother coupled with her fear of closeness, combined with the bustling setting of downtown New York in the 1980s, gave White Lines the potential to powerfully impact the reader. Instead, I found it flatlined, meandering from one conviction to another just like its disoriented heroine.
Cat is surrounded by interesting people, all with their own damages. Julian harbors a traumatic relationship history, Angela is a paradox of doll-like perfection and desire to rebel, Giovanni appears cheery but is in actuality isolated and desperate. All of the characters had so much depth, but reading about them was like looking at a flashlight through a frosted pane of glass. The effect of their glow was dulled by the narrative.
This could be due to the dialogue which was rarely strong, and more often formulaic. Think a vague statement, followed by a short question, ending in some showy answer. For example, when Julian asks Cat about her past, she says she might tell him when she knows him better.
“So will I?” He asks.
“Will you what?” ...
“Get to know you better.”
Maybe this was done multiple times for dramatic effect, to add a pause and build tension. For me it just made things choppy and repetitive.
Beginning this book, I really wanted to see it resolve with explosive character development for Cat. I was excited for her to find her own strength and progress forward. While the ending was realistic and true to the story, I felt like White Lines could have left me with chills, but failed to dig deep enough.
I’m not sure I would recommend this one, because although it kept me interested, depending on what mood your in, it could not be what your looking for. It vaguely reminds me of Girls by Blake Nelson, possibly because of the narrative voice, even though the actual similarities are few.
Maybe you’ll become bored by the dialogue as well, or while you’re reading you’ll fantasize about a scene where Cat realizes her full strength. Though certain moments in the book brought her close, without that powerful crescendo, the story lacked durability. (less)

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Mar 16, 2013 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: awesome-dialog, contemporary, diversity-friendly, eating-disorders, drug-use, female-protagonist, great-author, great-supporting-characters, great-world-building, loved, own, real-life-issues, thought-provoking, ya

First Impressions: White Lines isn't the kind of book I would normally pick up at a bookstore and purchase, but something about the synopsis made me want to dig into the story immediately. I spent quite a few years living in N.Y.C. in my early twenties and was into the whole club scene (a million years ago, it seems like) and I think that is what attracted me to this book. The cover is simple but it works for the story.

First 50 Pages: It's obvious that the author has spent some time in Manhattan...more First Impressions: White Lines isn't the kind of book I would normally pick up at a bookstore and purchase, but something about the synopsis made me want to dig into the story immediately. I spent quite a few years living in N.Y.C. in my early twenties and was into the whole club scene (a million years ago, it seems like) and I think that is what attracted me to this book. The cover is simple but it works for the story.

First 50 Pages: It's obvious that the author has spent some time in Manhattan, especially the area known as the Village in Lower Manhattan. The first couple of chapters I thought for sure that the author pulled her imagery of NYC right out of my head. I love that area and she really captured the essence of it so well. I was immediately pulled into the story and I connected to the main character very well. I was a club kid and promoter there, so for me, it was very realistic. The problems Cat faces are very real and these types of issues she faces are true to life.

Characters & Plot: Cat is a club kid with a bad background. You get clippings of her life with her mother and father throughout the story. You know that her past is bad, but you don't really know just how bad. Her present isn't great either. She grew up in Upper Manhattan in a wealthy neighborhood with well-off parents. Her mother is a psycho bitch and her father turns his cheek to the problems in their household.

At some point in the past, her parents split up and her father remarries a girl half his age named Jasmine. Her mother is left on her own. Cat goes to live by her self in a dingy apartment in Lower Manhattan, which in the 80s, wasn't the greatest or most clean place to live. Her father pays the rent (when he remembers) and gives her some money to survive.

Cat has a good friend, Sara, who drags Cat to a club one night. Sara ends up hating it and would rather be home sleeping, while Cat gets completely addicted. She ends up working at the club at the door, spending most of her nights there doing an absurd amount of Cocaine, alcohol, and sometimes, Ecstasy, with her new friends Sebastian and Giovanni, who have their own issues.

Besides the amazing descriptions of the nightlife in NYC and the 80s music scene, most of the characters were well thought out, too. Cat is pretty screwed up for most of the whole novel. She's doing drugs and partying hard to escape her harsh reality. Some of the things she went through with her mother were terrible. She makes a lot of bad decisions that could kill her and some almost do. Halfway through the story I thought she was going to keel over and die. She does make a slow progression towards some sort of normalcy late in the book.

Sara was a great character and the complete opposite of Cat. I thought of Sara as Cat's conscience. She's a loyal friend who obviously cares deeply about Cat and sticks by her side no matter what.

There are lesser supporting characters that make this story interesting and most were well characterized. I liked Giovanni, the drag queen club friend and Sebastian, an up and coming club promoter. Giovanni attempts to be a good friend in his own twisted way, but he isn't really stable either and none of these people make good decisions. I did think both of these characters were stereotypical, but I did find them to be entertaining.

There is also Alexa and Julian. Alexa is from the Upper Side of Manhattan and is everything Cat doesn't want to be. She's an uber-bitch with an eating disorder and her own set of issues. Somehow Cat and Alexa wind up having an awkward semi-friendly relationship that I couldn't quite understand. Julian is the loner sort of guy that Cat begins to fall for. He makes a few appearances throughout the story, but the book doesn't focus on their growing relationship and romance. He has a history as well (they all do) but you don't find out exactly what it is until the book is almost over. I really liked Julian. He was good for Cat and I think he is part of the reason Cat grows and opens up in the end. I actually wish the author would have featured him more.

Final Thoughts: Overall, I really enjoyed this story. While I don't think it's overly original and it was a bit stereotypical, I had a difficult time putting it down. For me, it was so easy to connect to the setting and the characters because in a way, it was a life that I lived, minus all of the drug use. Trust me when I say that the temptation to fall down the wrong path is definitely there and I know some friends who were/are caught up in the whole crazy club/drug scene. It's still alive and kicking right now, albeit not as noticeable. I would recommend giving this book a chance if you are into gritty contemporary novels. It's worthy of being read and loved! It sort of reminded me of Girl, Interrupted mixed with the movie Kids (minus all the sex), with some great 80s music. If that sounds like your sort of thing, go for it!

Side Note: If you're looking for some great clubs in NYC, I'd recommend Touch (they make kick ass drinks), the Marquee (have fun trying to get in if you don't know someone), and Circle (a primarily Korean club that is TONS of fun). (less)

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May 19, 2013 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reading WHITE LINES helped me to blur my own set of lines in young adult book reviewing world. WHITE LINES by Jennifer Banash isn't a fantasy novel. It's the exact opposite. Banash takes a hard look at one teenager's reality in the 1980s. Learn more about Jennifer Banash and her book here.

Normally, this isn't the kind of book that I would pick up without knowing anything about it, but after I read the back cover, I couldn't wait to read it.

Now you know what cover to look for in the bookstore and...more

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May 18, 2013 Nikki (Fiction Freak) rated it 4 of 5 stars

I never am good with gritty books, really. I honestly find it completely ridiculous how characters in these books run run away, do drugs, or just become antisocial because of their troubles. But then, I'm so young I barely know anything about real problems. I think this book made me rethink my stand on this. My thoughts on the ridiculousness, that is.

White Lines...it's one of those books that, while isn't literary-perfect, it still manages to pull on you somewhat. Cat's hasn't had the easiest li...more I never am good with gritty books, really. I honestly find it completely ridiculous how characters in these books run run away, do drugs, or just become antisocial because of their troubles. But then, I'm so young I barely know anything about real problems. I think this book made me rethink my stand on this. My thoughts on the ridiculousness, that is.

White Lines...it's one of those books that, while isn't literary-perfect, it still manages to pull on you somewhat. Cat's hasn't had the easiest life. Her mother abused her, her father doesn't seem to care, and she's practically alone in the world. All she knows now is partying, but how far is she willing to go for a little thrill that only holds empty promises?

I'll definitely give it to Banash, she knows how to capture the gritty world of downtown. Almost everything is messed up and throughout the book, things are just slowly, slowly, spiraling down for Cat. She's not a smart character and she copes with her problems in the worst ways possible. She's completely f*cked up, and she has her ups and downs. She's so shockingly real. She tries to cope, and tries to escape, and that's a bit familiar, isn't it? Giovanni, Alexa, everyone. They may not be model characters, but they were fleshed out well enough.

I almost never talk about the writing style, but I have to. It was just gorgeous. The prose told the story beautifully and it was easy to understand. It was stunning writing and I definitely love Jennifer Banash's style. There's just a certain feel to it that makes you fall in love.

The plot was slow at times, though, and I almost put it down maybe halfway in? It definitely got more interesting later on for me, and I was aching to know how this sad story would end. And...wow, did it end. It almost felt too...not fitting. How (SPOILER. SORT OF) everything just fell into a sort of happy ever after. (END)

The romance also seemed to come out of nowhere and didn't seem to really...advance the plot as much as I thought it should've. So there was that.

All in all, I'd recommend it for fans of historical fiction, especially Out of the Easy by Ruta Septys, or Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith if you've had the luck of reading that early!(less)

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Apr 03, 2013 A Beautiful Madness rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, arc

I was really excited to get my hands on White Lines by Jennifer Banash, and I simply couldn’t wait to read it. I was curious to see how the settings would be affecting the story. Sadly, the story, even though it had potential to be really interesting, failed to really impress. I felt like the story being set in the ‘80’s didn’t really affect the plot that much, and that really disappointed me. The time period was one of the reasons I really wanted to read it, and it didn’t wow me.

More than that,...more I was really excited to get my hands on White Lines by Jennifer Banash, and I simply couldn’t wait to read it. I was curious to see how the settings would be affecting the story. Sadly, the story, even though it had potential to be really interesting, failed to really impress. I felt like the story being set in the ‘80’s didn’t really affect the plot that much, and that really disappointed me. The time period was one of the reasons I really wanted to read it, and it didn’t wow me.

More than that, there were other little things that made it hard for me to really enjoy this novel. The pacing was slow, and the story lacked excitement. White Lines should have been a heavy and emotional story, but I felt like many part of the book were superficial. I felt no connection to the story and narration, which gave me the feeling of reading the story as seen by someone from afar. It lacked emotions, and White Lines seemed like the kind of book that should have been able to really touch the reader deeply. After all, Cat’s story is full of drug, abuse, and heartbreak.

White Lines is the kind of novel in which the main character takes an important part in liking this book. I might have felt pity for some parts of Cat’s past, but I simply couldn’t find it in me to really find her story interesting. Cat was a little all over the place as a character, and there were things about her that didn’t work for me. Also, Cat’s drug use, or rather the consequences of her drug use, felt wrong to me. She doesn’t really appear to have consequences on her that much, other than leaving her tired from all the partying. Shouldn’t cocaine leave her some more effects than only the dark circles under her eyes? Well, I’m not an expert on cocaine, but it felt weird.

Overall, White Lines by Jennifer Banash simply wasn’t really working for me. I had high expectations for this novel, and they were far from met. I know this book will please many readers, but it didn’t include me. I might give Jennifer Banash’s future novels a chance, but this book simply charmed me.
(less)

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Apr 14, 2013 Lynne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: youngadult, contemporary, sarc-2013, stand-alones, own, won-offsite, review-for-author, arc

Told in a brutally honest, deeply intimate way, WHITE LINES by Jennifer Banash is an edgy, dark and gritty tale that chronicles the steady decline of Cat's crazy life during the wilder side of life in the 80's.

Cat is a seventeen year old girl, a barely passing senior in high school. The product of growing up in a physical and emotionally abusive home as well as the child of a broken marriage. She is estranged and emancipated from her parents and even though her folks are well off, she ends up l...more Told in a brutally honest, deeply intimate way, WHITE LINES by Jennifer Banash is an edgy, dark and gritty tale that chronicles the steady decline of Cat's crazy life during the wilder side of life in the 80's.

Cat is a seventeen year old girl, a barely passing senior in high school. The product of growing up in a physical and emotionally abusive home as well as the child of a broken marriage. She is estranged and emancipated from her parents and even though her folks are well off, she ends up living by herself in a fairly rough part of town - an area called Alphabet City, in New York.

To make ends meet, Cat becomes a party promoter for one of the hottest, trendiest clubs downtown. She earns her $500 a week and soon finds herself in the top echelon of the clubbing food chain. As the force behind the magical velvet rope - the person who either denies or grants VIP access to the inner sanctums of the night clubs - most nights you'll find Cat dressed up in some crazy, atrocious costume - designed by none other than her close friend and partner in crime, Giovanni - but most of all ... you'll always find Cat higher than the night before.
Because hers is a world where the bass is always thumping, vibrations rippling through the air and she's not having the time of her life unless she's bouncing off the walls, rolling through life on a drug induced high and wired for sound. At the pinnacle of her 'career' Cat finds herself growing up too fast, too soon and far too many lines too deep into drugs. She's in denial and throwing caution to the wind.

quotes I marked while reading:
pg 210 It's easier to pretend that you need nothing and no one, that you're an island surrounded by miles of water, uninhabitable, than it is to let your real feelings out where they can be trampled on. Sometimes I wish I were made of something impermeable and hard like wood or metal. Something that would keep the core of me locked away, encased in a thick, glittering shell.

pg 242 I know I have become my worst self, a girl who will do anything to avoid looking at her own frightened reflection in the mirror. A girl who runs away, straight into the dark of an eclipse, just to have some place to go.

I found Cat to be a character my heart ached for. She was so broken and pitiful and almost beyond being able to save herself. We watch her spiraling out of control, falling deeper into the pit of her own self destruction. I wanted her love interest (Julian) to save her and if he couldn't do it, I hoped her best childhood friend Sara would be there to catch her before she fell.
But like watching a comet on a direct path toward the sun, you just know that Cat is going to get burnt and you wonder if she'll survive the very worst of her existence.
This is a story about a young life, lived hard and fast, that definitely gets worse before it gets better. And yet, there is so much more to this story than the drugs and club scenes. Ultimately, it's about a lost soul who is desperate to find love, yet at the same time, afraid to be loved.

While the club scenes weren't the lifestyle that I personally experienced, I grew up in the eighties and I can only imagine this type of thing must have existed in cities more advanced than where I grew up.
I found a lot of shout outs and references to that era's brand names (like Tab -the drink, Sony walkman, etc) and most of the music being mentioned or played in the club (Madonna, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran etc) brought back some of my own memories of growing up in the 80's.

I haven't read anything else by this author (yet) but with this well written story I can say she certainly has a writing style that is lyrical and realistic. In WHITE LINES, she writes about habits and secrets that usually stay hidden in dark corners - a lifestyle that most people would deny even exists, let alone admit to living. A deep look that is almost too close for comfort.

Due to the realistic nature of this book, adult themes and heavy drug use (as well as the risky consequences thereof) I would recommend this book to ages mature 16-17 and up.

I received this ARC of WHITE LINES directly from the author for my honest review. Thank you again Jennifer!(less)

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Apr 02, 2013 the golden witch. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, contemporary, own-print-arc, teenage-shennanigans, arc-galley, for-review, for-swap, reviewed, new-adult, history

3.5/5 stars.

We really need more dark, gritty contemps like this in YA, guys. I'm just going to lay that out there now. "White Lines" is incredibly hard to read at times because it's filled with a lot of darkness, a lot of frustration, and a lot of pain, but it's also an important book to read as well. Banash brilliantly brings back late 1980s New York with ridiculous ease and a vibrancy I haven't felt in YA contemporary in quite a long while. This is not the feel good book of the year, but if yo...more 3.5/5 stars.

We really need more dark, gritty contemps like this in YA, guys. I'm just going to lay that out there now. "White Lines" is incredibly hard to read at times because it's filled with a lot of darkness, a lot of frustration, and a lot of pain, but it's also an important book to read as well. Banash brilliantly brings back late 1980s New York with ridiculous ease and a vibrancy I haven't felt in YA contemporary in quite a long while. This is not the feel good book of the year, but if you want one of the more meaningful ones, definitely check out "White Lines".

The biggest issues I had with this book: the pacing, and the ending. The pacing was more than a bit uneven - almost bipolar in some areas - it seemed to drag the most during Cat's days outside of the clubs, and was the most eventful when she was doing her job at night inside of the club. I'm not sure if this was a conscious decision on Banash's part - to show how empty Cat's life was, and how it positively dragged when she wasn't dancing, doing drugs, and feeling free at Tunnel. Looking back on it, it might just have been. I just wish there'd been a little bit more action during the day, a little more tension and a little less exhaustion to plod through.

The ending: It felt far too neatly wrapped up for my taste, especially considering how messy everything was for Cat in her life throughout the book. It was almost a fairytale ending, if you think about it (though I won't spoil it here), and while for Cat it's a badly needed thing to help heal her and get her on the road to recovery, it happened way too fast to be realistic. I do love the climax of the book - where everything is literally going to hell around her - but the resolution was just too easy.

I will say, though - Banash definitely knows how to kill her darlings, and kill them well. Cat goes through SO much in this book, and afterward, you just kind of want to hug her forever. She may not be the most likeable MC, but she's definitely one of the more relatable ones to come along in YA contemp in awhile. Banash holds nothing back with creating Cat as her MC, and that too was refreshing. The suffering, the alienation, all of it felt very, very real, and I loved every bit of that. The world that Banash helped create through Cat's eyes and experiences felt very true to the real late 80s New York - where it was all drugs and clubs, yuppies and parties - and some of her little added dashes of hints of things to come (Sebastian and his blue spots was a VERY nice touch when you think about what those blue spots mean - AIDS) within the next few years, and how it all starts to turn around. Banash took many risks with this book, this MC, and this world, and for that, I definitely tip my hat to her.

But what really takes the cake is her absurdly awesome use of sensory language and imagery. A lot of it felt like the same imagery evoked in Francesca Lia Block's "Weetzie Bat" series, which took place and was published in the 1980s, and it felt really real. If anything, I'd say that while Block's prose still retains a dreamy element to it in the "Weetzie" series, Banash's look back into one of the darker parts of the late 20th century is absolutely visceral in quality, to the point where there were some scenes where I had to put the book down, catch my breath, and continue later. You know an author's done their job when you feel their story in your guts and you have to actually step away from it for awhile to process what's going on.

Final verdict? While not perfect, "White Lines" still delivers as a heartstopping debut for Banash, and makes me want to read more of her work. I'm definitely looking forward to whatever she puts out next. "White Lines" is out from Penguin on April 4, 2013 in North America, so definitely be sure to check it out when you get the chance!

(posted to goodreads, shelfari, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)(less)

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May 16, 2013 Suz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2013

White Lines is a gritty and raw coming of age tale that readers will not want to put down. Compelling and poignant, this is a young adult novel on the cusp of New Adult. Jennifer Banash does a wonderful job in delivering a stellar mature young adult novel, that is full of powerful emotion, atmospheric wonder, and a captivating storyline that is sure to wow and stun readers. Dangerous and out of control, this is a story that will embark readers on a rollercoaster ride of epic emotion, sprialing...more

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