Never Always Sometimes :: Adi Alsaid

• Never Always Soemtimes by Adi Alsaid on Amazon

I excitedly picked up Never Always Sometimes because I loved Adi Alsaid's style of writing and narrative in his North of Happy. In some ways Never Always Sometimes disappointed me; for the first half of the book action was close to static, character portrayal somewhat fuzzy, too. Premise of the story is how Dave and Julia as they're about to enter high school make a list of all the high school clichés they plan to avoid being and refrain from doing. Then, of course, we hear about them checking off list items through the end of their senior year at San Luis Obispo High.

Whatever the era, Julia, Dave, and then Gretchen exemplify teens defining themselves by being like all the others or by not being like all those appearance-behavior clichés. Details of days in the lives of high schoolers in affluent southern California suburbia aside, author Alsaid brings in depth with Dave's reflections over his mom's death, Julia's devastation as she realizes her endlessly roaming biological mom won't ever be a real part of her life, yet she easily acknowledges that her adoptive dads love fiercely and love well.

As us ancient people ("ancient" would include the author and anyone more than a few years post-HS graduation) have learned, assuming you've found your life partner when you're in your teens feels silly to anyone who has acquired a few years, so I felt immense relief that the book didn't end with anyone considerably themselves permanently paired with someone else. In fact the conclusion redeemed the rest because it left the reader with no idea of what might come next or within the next decade or so.

Although I'll reiterate my sorrow that the writing in Never Always Sometimes lacked the magic I found in North of Happy, I'm happy Alsaid avoided conventional clichés and didn't fall into his own, either.

• My Amazon Review: Real Life Teen Drama