Everything is changed by Nova Weetman
University of Queensland Press, 2016. ISBN 9780702254161
(Age: YA) Highly recommended. Themes: Choices; Friendship; Guilt;
Regret. This is brilliantly written! Right from the opening chapter
we know how the story ends . . . but how did it all come to this
devastating place. This is a powerful YA novel of friendship
destroyed by a reckless moment of teenage thoughtlessness. The power
of the novel is in the construction, or rather, deconstruction of
the circumstances. Guilt drips from the pages, marring what was once
good, simple and full of hope. Weetman has essentially told the
story by exposing the consequences of a simple action committed by a
pair of friends as they simply enjoy each other's company with no
thoughts beyond the moment, but an action that has lethal
consequences. And the reader desperately wants it all to be
different for the young teens and the girlfriend innocently caught
in the middle. We watch the unravelling as the initial event is
reconstructed back to its source, knowing always that there is no
happy ending (or technically, beginning). The pages weep with 'if
only' moments.
Weetman's portrayal of young male friendship undergoing change
brought on by maturing, girlfriends, new horizons and school
scenarios would have been worthy on its own, but her addition of the
foreboding of the horror of the defining action in their lives, with
its impact on their families, relationships and future lifts this
book into a different plane. This is so cleverly written and the
plot is so well managed (in its reverse chronology) that it is worth
reading for this feature alone. But it is certainly worth reading
too for its portrayal of the impact of one unwise moment. Get it
into the hands of young male readers who will perhaps recognise in
their own lives the small actions that could equally have
significant impacts on their future. (There is some coarse
language).
Carolyn Hull