Biblio Files: talking about books

And Now You Can Go by Vandela Vida
This book opens on Ellis, our narrator and protagonist, being approached by a man in the park, who holds a gun to her head. He says that he wants to die, but that he doesn't want to die alone; he says that he wants to take her with him. She dissuades him by reciting poetry.
This is not the focus of the book, but it gives the book the energy it needs to keep going until it becomes an interesting story in its own right. Ellis is a twenty two year old college student. Although this is an adult novel, it carries some of the aura of a young adult novel, in that the protagonist matures in a significant way during the story. The college atmosphere of the story makes it seem somewhat removed from the rest of the world, which both adds to and detracts from the story.
Happy reading.