Zev’s Comments (group member since Feb 26, 2019)

Zev’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

Yes, that's it! Thank you.

The narrator was...talking to someone. I don't know how to describe it. Talking to readers, I guess. The book was written in first person, past tense, but read like the reader was addressing someone. He regretted everything and wished it had turned out differently.

The cover was red or blue because I took the dust jacket off. I think the letters of the title were raised or sunk.

"Black and Blue" by Anna Quindlen.

The description below is mostly copy-pasted from a previous entry I made. That one is solved. I realized I was looking for two separate books. This is a post about that second book I was looing for. It does not have Ginger or Trey in it.

TW: Sexual assault; death
I read this between 2000-2013.
The book is about a group of male friends from high school up until they grow up and have kids too. One man in the friends group assaults another one's daughter. I don't remember either of their names. He dies near the end of the novel, and the narrator thinks, "We would have invited the daughter's dad (to the funeral), but...you know..." The daughter's dad had been part of the friends group when they were younger. They didn't invite him to the assailant's funeral because he sexually assaulted the other man's daughter when she was thirteen and he was forty. Her parents had her testify in court, and she was furious and didn't want to be there.

The book presented this part like a court transcript, and it was a whole chapter.
The defense was a tall, skinny man. "What's your name?" he asked. She said her name, which I don't remember, and said, "But my friends call me (nickname)." "Okay, (nickname)--" "I didn't say you could call me (nickname)." Silence, and then questions about what happened with the man who assaulted her. She didn't view what happened to her as sexual assault: "Because I had the biggest boobs in seventh grade and I wanted to fuck. He asked and I was fine with getting into bed with him." She was maybe fourteen or fifteen while testifying. She had red hair, was pale and had freckles, and was wearing a white button-down while testifying.

Before she testified, the narrator mentioned one of the guys' mother as they were teens. "We all thought as teenagers that Mrs. (Last Name, possibly Daniels) was hot. We asked (the assailant) about it. He was more into the girls at our private school, the whole schoolgirl thing." Really? They asked the assailant. "Because Mrs. (Last Name) does it for -everyone- and is so attractive." Her son rolled his eyes and was so uncomfortable, and asked the assailant another question about why he was so into girls from private school. "We figured this was just because he went to public school. The allure of short skirts had worn off for us a long time ago, but he'd never been around it. We didn't know (it indicated pedophilia in his case). If only we had known, we could have helped (the man's daughter)."

This was kind of a subplot in the book, but at the same time a big part of it. I don't remember the genre. I don't remember why it wasn't narrated by the daughter's dad. The book was hardback with a white spine but colors on the cover. The author was a man with initials M or D? When the other guys from the friend group all grew up, only the daughter's dad was married and had a kid. The narrator may have gone through a breakup? I want to say this took place in the USA but it's also possible it took place in England.

Red and green were important when discussing girls at their school. I think the girls' uniforms may have been red and green plaid skirts, with white button-down shirts.

I'll comment if I remember anything else.

Thank you! I edited the header to make things clearer.

I read "The Four Ms Bradwells" to be sure. It had Ginger and Trey in it, with him sexually assaulting her. It takes place on fictional Cook Island in Washington, D.C. during autumn, when everything is gray and cold. The author's name started with M, but was a woman. The book's spine was white and the cover had a woman wearing a double-strand pearl necklace. The book is categorized as a suspense novel.
I want to mark this as solved.

The other details are clearly from a different book entirely, so I am planning to make a separate post about that one.

The "Dykes to Watch Out For" comic book series by Alison Bechdel has this. Over the years, Clarice and Toni raise their son Raffi.

The cover was dark red or blue? It was hardback. It's written in first person, but I can't remember if it was past or present tense. I don't think the book was long. There was a kidnapping plot or subplot. Ezra was kidnapped midway through the book by a man named Peter. Another man with an S name was in the book as well. He takes Ezra out deep in the woods, where Ezra lived in the edge of with his parents. Ezra tries to get away, but Peter catches him several times. There is mention of a shotgun, to try and keep Ezra where he is. "Then I got me a bright idea. 'I need to use the privy,' I said. He laughed. 'The privy. Aren't you fancy. There ain't no privy here, boy, but you use whichever bush you like."

Ezra does go out to the bushes, and that's when he either sees the shotgun or Peter mentions it. I have no idea why Ezra was kidnapped. I remember it as historical fiction set in the American South, maybe in the early 1900s or the late 1800s. I think he escapes or is released, and gets back with his parents. I don't remember how, or what happens to his abductor. I think he had brown hair and was between the ages of twelve and sixteen.

I'll comment if I remember anything else.

Yes! Thank you!

Yes, it's the second suggestion! Thank you for double-checking. I got so excited that I forgot to clarify.

Her name might have been Andrea and she may have been blond. I think her teachers knew about her dyslexia, but I don't think they cared. She wasn't getting support around it, and was embarrassed. She was a skilled illustrator and was drawing a picture during class of a construction site near the school. She drew a sign that said "detour", only the "d" was backward. A boy who was constantly mean to her sat behind her and leaned over the drawing. "What's a betour?" he asked, smirking. The teacher heard this and took the drawing away. The girl thought to herself, "The d went this way, and the b went that way, and I forgot. I feel like throwing up."

Later, she goes to or hosts a sleepover and she and her friends have tons of fun. They watch good movies and do silly things. One girl winds up with her foot in the popcorn bowl, and another takes a picture. They all pass it around the next day, laughing about how much fun they had. The boy who is regularly mean to the dyslexic girl sees the picture and asks if he can come to the next sleepover. She brushes him off.

She dresses up for Halloween as a football player and takes the kid she babysits for, with her. One man gives them packs of sunflower seeds. The kid instantly has a screaming and kicking tantrum. "Tanny, tanny, tanny!" "What?" the man asks the girl. She scoops up the kid and explains, "He wants candy." The man shakes his head. "Here's an extra pack for you, kid." She likes sunflower seeds, so this is a treat for her.

This took place in the USA, maybe the Midwest? I'll comment if I remember anything else.

It was "Black City." I read a review of the book a long time ago, and it was wildly different, so that's why I thought it wasn't it. Thank you for helping me find it.

YES. Oh, I'm so glad you helped me find it! I'm going to edit the header so it's clearer that it's actually a short story collection.

"Bone gap" by Laura Ruby could work for this,.

"Beneath A Sugar Sky" by Seanan McGuire has this. It's the third in a novella series but can be read as a standalone.

Rainbowheart, it was brand new at the time. Lobstergirl, thank you so much for the list! I'll update once I finish looking through it.

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