[.ca] The Tracey Fragments (ISBN 0887847684)

neat way to tell a story, but..:
perhaps my expectations for this book was a little high, since it has been called a "Catcher in the Rye" for the 90's. However, the book didn't live up to those expectations. there are similarities between "catcher" and "tracey fragments": both protagonists are young, lost, misunderstood, and lonely teenagers, and nothing really physically happens in the book. But while Holden Caulfield was a most likeable hero for me (i love you holden caulfield), i find Tracey Berkowitz to be much too whiny. I had little sympathy for her. I realized Tracey's mind games as I read further along in the book, and felt almost betrayed. In the end, Medved's unique way of telling the story (which makes the reader feel as if he/she was in tracey's mind) kept the book fresh and urged me to read on. An ok read; it is short so it's worth picking up if you are into depressing/angst stories.

Voyage into a 15-year old head:
I was especially stunned by the way Medved tells the story. It is a world only existing in a girls head, but the way of telling makes it appear very realistic and understandable. The protagonist of the story is Tracey Berkowitz. She sits on the backseat of a bus dressed only with a shower curtain and explains the events that happened the past few days. But she does not tell it in linear order. Just like real thinking she swaps back and forth between different events. Very vividly Tracey displays her thoughts, emotions and memories. From Traceys innocent point of view the issue of a protective media-society is broached as well as its affect on todays youth (especially behavioral disorders). As the story goes by, Tracey seems to build her own reality, which is based on facts, but Tracey processes them to justify her behavior and to feel needed. That is the main point of the story. For everything that goes wrong she blames her parents (which is justified), also for hypnotising her little brother sonny. When he ran away she did too in order find him and take care of him. Her parents are the reason that she became an escapist. She is unhappy with everything going on around her, so she had to build an alternate reality for her to flee from all that. She believes her duty is to take care of her brother, because her parents do not. As a result of Tracey being only 15, important details are difficult to see which makes it difficult to create "the whole picture". Every details is important to understand why Tracey turned out the way she is, why she is sitting almost naked on a bus and why her parents think she is crazy. I believe there is not just one right answer. Although it may sound a bit difficult to read let me say that the novel is incredibly enthralling due to the unchronological way of of telling you only get "fragments" before flipping to another memory. So you read more and more just to get the next piece to the big puzzle. The person to write the other review was not exactly thrilled by the novel. I believe the reason is Tracey herself. Not everybody can identify or put oneself in the position of a 15 year old girl. "The Tracey Fragments" is a novel with turns a lot of attention to the psyche of a teenager and the circumstances leading to behavioral disorders. I would recommend it to anyone who is able to completely engage with a persons mind, maybe to even find out some things about oneself. I apologize for any mistakes regarding the language, but since I am from Germany I believe that I am entitled to at least some mistakes =)