Saving Jazz by Kate McCaffrey (Fremantle Press) PB RRP
$19.99
ISBN 9781925163582
Reviewed
by Teena Raffa-Mulligan
Award-winning
YA author Kate McCaffrey explores cyber bullying from a new perspective in her
latest release that should be essential reading for every young person in this
age of widespread social media use.
Saving Jazz is a
powerful story about the devastating consequences of a group of teens’ drunken
behaviour at a house party. When it goes viral no one’s life will ever be the
same.
Told
through a series of blog confessions by Jasmine - Jazz - Lovely, I found it at
times confronting and disturbing but so compelling I couldn’t put it down.
For
Jazz, the choices she and her friends make one night will change the direction
of their future. As she writes in her first blog post, ‘The worst thing about regret is there is no way to undo it. No way to
go back in time and make better choices.’
The
admission at the start of Post 1 sets the scene for a gripping read: ‘I am a rapist.’ From there, Jazz reveals with raw honesty the
lead-up to and aftermath of a shocking incident that leads to consequences Jazz
and her friends Annie and Jack could never have imagined.
McCaffrey
has a gift for capturing an authentic teen voice. Her previous titles -Destroying Avalon, In Ecstasy, Crashing Down
and Beautiful Monster - have all
garnered awards. Saving Jazz is the
follow-up title to Destroying Avalon.
It
should have a place on every high school English reading list. Teaching notes
are available from the publisher.
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