It's 1982, and 17-year-old Rudi Weiss is a tough girl living in the tougher streets of Irvington, NJ—with her life centered around alienation, drugs, and punk rock.
Though this changes when she's caught selling pot and given a choice: either spend the rest of her childhood in juvenile detention or move in with an ex-Marine and his family in the nearby affluent suburb of Maplewood.
There at the local high school, the wild and free-thinking Rudi disrupts the entire established order. And she especially disrupts Tommy Goodwin, a rich and popular preppy who's seemingly her opposite.
But underneath their veneers, they are much the same—two lost souls desperately in search of something. And when they find it, it explodes everything around them.
Something that's only exasperated when Rudi's past catches up with them, in this magical and bittersweet tale of unexpected love.
I didn't know what to expect when I heard about this book. I've never been a fan of the 80s, despite growing up in them. It all seemed rather cheesy to me, but I thought "what the heck, give this book a try" and I am so glad I did.
This book is about Rudi, a punk rock girl who finds herself in jail for selling drugs to an undercover cop. She has a choice of either spending the next year in Juvi, or living with a west hoy foster family. She chooses the family but as she attends her first at of a new school, she is wondering If she made the right choice, as she is completely different from everyone around her. The principal, the teachers, and the other students all treat her like a leper. Plus she owes her dealer the money from the drugs she got busted with and now he wants a piece of her. She considers running away but there's a boy.
Tommy is the popular rich jock that is everything punk rock girl hates but for whatever reason, Rudi is captivated by Tommy, although she tries her damnedest not to me. But Tommy is relentless is his pursuit of Rudi. But their challenges are many, their differences, his families dislike of her, her dealers looming threats.
This book was both uplifting and painful. It was different in is entirety. It's not your typical love story and it has such beautiful depth of spirituality (not religion) that was incredibly touching. Like I said, I didn't know what I was expecting but I certainly didn't expect to be so enthralled that I could put it down until I read every last word.
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