If you haven’t heard of J.L. Bryan yet, you’ll definitely keep an eye out for his other works after you read Jenny Pox, the compelling story of a girl who can’t touch anyone because she passes plague and death onto them.
The novel begins interestingly enough with a seemingly ordinary girl, Jenny, who turns out to be not so ordinary- her touch spreads plague and death. It’s particularly heart-wrenching when Jenny, who is a small child when the novel begins, learns from her father that snakes are poisonous and thus dangerous, and she identifies herself as poisonous, saying “poze-nuss,” which, although it’s cute, is ultimately heartbreaking.
Like Rogue of the X-Men, Jenny realizes that she can never have a normal relationship with a boy–any boy–because of her “ability,” for lack of a better word, and she especially can’t touch them, which means kids definitely aren’t in the future. Except Jenny is worse off than Rogue, because while Rogue’s touch can steal powers temporarily, or kill if she holds on long enough, Jenny’s just gives people the Plague. Then she meets Seth, a boy with the opposite power, a healing touch. Unfortunately, Seth has a girlfriend, Ashleigh, with a dangerous power of her own.
Jenny instantly wins the reader’s attention, sympathy, and heart, because despite her relative simplicity, she’s a very compelling character, even though she’s so young. Kudos to the author for getting children’s dialogue right, by the way.
I loved the author’s gift for descriptions–they reveal so much about Jenny’s character. The way that the narrative is structured is brilliant when it comes to characters–Bryan leads you down one path and makes you think one thing but then completely pulls a 180 on you and surprises you–genuinely. There’s so much more to each character than you think.
This is one of the best novels of the year I’ve read so far, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The ending has a satisfying resolution, and I think that Bryan is one of the most talented writers I’ve had the privilege to read. Take a chance and read the first two chapters–you’ll be absolutely compelled to know what happens next. It’s a great story, one that I think should receive a lot of attention. If you haven’t already, consider becoming Jeff’s Facebook friend by clicking here; please visit his website here. And please read Jenny’s own blog here.
Reviewed by: Darkeva