Postcard For Reader

Friend Is Not A Verb

Friend Is Not A Verb
Author: Daniel Ehrenhaft
Series: ---
Publisher: HarperTeen
How Received: BookExpo America 2010

Henry "Hen" Birnbaum's sister, Sarah, missing for over a year, has come home unexpectedly, with no explanation at all. But he can't leave well enough alone; Hen needs to figure out why she disappeared, even if she won't tell him. It's not like he has anything better to do. His girlfriend just dumped him and kicked him out of their band. He can't play the bass worth crap anyway. His social life consists of night after night of VH1 marathons with his best friend and next-door neighbor, the neurotic Emma Wood.

Hen's sure the answers to Sarah's lost year lie with Gabriel Stern—Sarah's friend from college who also happens to be a twenty-two-year-old fugitive from the law and Hen's bass teacher... too bad he can't play bass worth crap either. A month into his quest, Hen has had countless consultations with Emma, watched approximately fifty-three reruns of Behind the Music, and made one new Facebook friend. Unfortunately, he's no closer to any revelations about his sister. The thing is, he's too distracted to notice it, but while Hen's been looking for all the answers, something mind-blowing happened: He got a life.
Buy | Borrow | Brush Off
I'm tackling my books-that-are-smaller-than-the-first-Harry-Potter-book pile. I started with Lark and moved on to this one; this is another small one that packs a whollop of a good story into a fast read.

Henry may have become one of my favorite protagonists to read through the eyes of of. He manages to complain without being whiny, think deeply without trying to appear intentionally philosophical, and make sarcastic or ironic jokes without ever breaking character. He's got the head of most of my guy friends, which is rare for me to read. (Maybe due to lack of excellently written male protagonists in what I've read or due to high expectations of the male figure in what I've read. Who knows.)

I loved the way the story was written; the answer to the biggest mystery in the story was given to you all along, and maybe if I hadn't been so sucked into the story I would have looked at it and been able to figure it out. But I didn't want to put the book down to figure it out - I wanted to keep reading and find out what happened to Hen and Petra and PETRA and Emma and everybody. So I managed to be thrilled at the shock of the answer and pleased that it could be sensed coming simultaneously.

Also, the title for this book - and the discussion within the novel about said title - makes me extraordinarily happy as somebody who can have hour long conversations about these types of things.

Final Thoughts: It's a fast read that makes you think far more than you expect it too. Also, it's got a quote from Maureen Johnson on the back cover. Therefore, it wins.