{"id":590,"date":"2011-07-20T10:51:04","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T15:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=590"},"modified":"2011-07-20T10:51:04","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T15:51:04","slug":"365-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/365-days\/","title":{"rendered":"365 Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Payne, K.E. 365 Days.<\/em> Advanced readers copy. Valley Falls, NY: Bold Strokes Books, 2011. Paperback. 194pp. $13.95. ISBN: 978-1-60282-540-6.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Clem is determined to keep her diary up-to-date this year as she explores her changing feelings and dealings with her friends and romantic escapades. She is attracted to her elusive, female classmate J, while her clueless friends try to set her up with Ben. Meanwhile a girl named Hannah moves to town and confuses Clem further.<\/p>\n

The reader follows Clem\u2019s comedic musings in her day-by-day diary. Fans of Louise Rennison\u2019s Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging<\/em> will appreciate similarities between the bumbling, lighthearted heroines confessing their often-failed romantic escapades in diary format. Clem\u2019s awkward antics and indifference towards school will resonate with readers in similar mindsets.<\/p>\n

The trouble with 365 Days <\/em>is the quality of the writing. The prose is such a realistic depiction of how a teenage girl would write a diary that is fails to be art and instead reads like original fan fiction that somehow got published. Clem\u2019s character development also feels stunted and unrealistic. Perhaps her sudden, blind self-declaration of her sexuality is reflective of a changing society, but her thoughts feel like fluff rather than an engaging exploration of a young girl\u2019s life and awakening sexuality. The story seems to be set in the present-day, yet Clem needs to be taught about Facebook by her peers. These details, along with some rambling passages, add up to a clunky novel that distances itself from the audience it is written for.<\/p>\n

It is certainly refreshing to read a lighthearted novel that follows a girl as she realizes she is gay and experiences her first love. This novel could have filled a void; it never once delves into the politics of coming-out as a queer teenager or the backlash based on sexuality they often experience. It is a shame that the dull plot and poorly written prose make me unable to recommend this novel for collections in order to fill that void. I have great respect and admiration for what K.E. Payne has done, and hope to see her writing develop over time and produce the novels that I feel she is capable of.<\/p>\n

I would only recommend this for public or high school libraries with a very large demand for LGBT literature, despite questionable writing quality.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by, Tracy Gossage<\/strong>
\nMLIS Student
\nDominican University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Payne, K.E. 365 Days. Advanced readers copy. Valley Falls, NY: Bold Strokes Books, 2011. Paperback. 194pp. $13.95. ISBN: 978-1-60282-540-6. Clem is determined to keep her diary up-to-date this year as she explores her changing feelings and dealings with her friends and romantic escapades. She is attracted to her elusive, female classmate J, while her clueless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}