Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
This dark tale of a high school girl's coming of age in modern suburbia is "an electrifying portrayal of adolescent angst" from the author of Bongwater (Booklist).
Downers Grove is the haunting and tender story of Chrissie Swanson, a high school senior for whom graduating has become a matter of life or death. She's an unusual girl in an ordinary town. But when jocks are out to destroy her life in increasingly unsettling ways, and her high school seems to be cursed with a series of untimely deaths, you can't blame her for being a little paranoid. Meanwhile, her mother's sex life is overshadowing her own; her brother never leaves the basement; and her best friend Tracy is hornier than a Prince song—all of which leaves her eccentric grandmother as the only source of wisdom in a rapid downward spiral.
As Chrissie tries to take control of the events that shape her life, she finds the events taking control of her, until she is finally cornered by choices with everlasting consequences. Full of humor, wit, and the sacrilegious worldview of a savvy teenager, Downers Grove paints a searing portrait of the American dream in all its broken glory.
Praise for Downers Grove
“The spirit of Holden Caulfield is alive and living in Downers Grove. Chrissie Swanson is the picture of Salinger-style disaffected youth, chafing at the limitations of her dead-end hometown. Chrissie’s voice effectively combines world-weary teenage impertinence with eloquent vulnerability.” —The Baltimore Sun
“Michael Hornburg renders the voice of his teenage heroine with a ventriloquist’s skill, and draws a subtly unnerving portrait of the world she has to live in.” —Madison Smartt Bell
“Highly polished, smoothly written . . . a nearly faultless ear and delightful authorial voice.” —Kirkus Reviews
Michael Hornburg’s first novel, Bongwater, was published in eight countries and made into an independent film. He currently writes for The Portland Mercury.