01 May / Hail Caesar by Thu-Huong Ha [in Bloomsbury Review]
Another precocious debut – this one by a Princeton freshman who began the novel at 15 and won the PUSH Novel Contest at 17. Big Man on Campus-Caesar (real name John, but called Caesar because all hail to his youthful glory) has the perfect high school life – the girls love him, the boy want to be him. When new girl Eva shows up – and refuses to succumb to his never-before-failed charm – she throws him for a total loop and he finds himself unable to think about anything or anyone else. Could it be that even the invincible Caesar has a human weakness? Confession: for nervous parent like me, this is definitely a disturbing look into high school life (all that underage drinking and rampant meaningless sex makes a mother worry bigtime).
Review: “In Celebration of Asian Pacific American Month: New & Notable Books,” The Bloomsbury Review, May/June 2007
Readers: Young Adult
Published: 2007