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Roommates in a hospital ward, both Rex and Alice are 11 years old and both are "vanishing"--he into a terminal illness (although he calls himself the Prince of Remissions) and she into hallucinations from not eating. Alice has imposed a hunger strike upon herself in hopes that she won't have to return to her cold mother and domineering stepfather. The irony of her choice--death over a difficu... More

Roommates in a hospital ward, both Rex and Alice are 11 years old and both are "vanishing"--he into a terminal illness (although he calls himself the Prince of Remissions) and she into hallucinations from not eating. Alice has imposed a hunger strike upon herself in hopes that she won't have to return to her cold mother and domineering stepfather. The irony of her choice--death over a difficult life--is bitterly amusing to Rex in contrast to his own situation. The story is saved from pathos by the exchanges of gallows humor among the two kids and a wiseacre nurse, as they spar to see who can put up the coolest front. Rex, for example, refers to an unidentified burn victim in the next bed as Bobbie Q, a quip of black humor that shocks even Alice. But when Rex is taken to the intensive care unit for his last hours, he finally drops his pose of sophisticated detachment to convince Alice that "dying sucks"--an admission that helps her make the choice that Rex has been denied.

This genuinely funny--but also quite serious--novel will appeal to younger teens for its short length and quick pace, and older teens for its sophisticated dialogue. Bruce Brooks brings a brilliant surprise to each of his novels: The Moves Make the Man, with its rich basketball imagery; Midnight Hour Encores, with its vivid invocation of the '60s and the mind of a self-centered cello prodigy; and Asylum for Nightface, a strange book about the search for God. (Ages 11 and older) --Patty Campbell

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