The amazing thing about people is that even when you’re aging you remember what it was like to be young. I used to have to stop and consciously think of that if I wanted to realize it when talking to those older than myself. Now that I’m no longer young I don’t need to have it explained. I’m not afraid to read teen literature. Those who write it well (John Green comes immediately to mind) make you feel like you did when you were a teen. I read Jessica Verday’s The Hollow because of, well, the Hollow. Sleepy Hollow, that is. This is a young adult novel and even before I was half-way through I got the strong impression that to be satisfied with the story I’d need to read the entire trilogy. This was a relief since I’ve read Sleepy Hollow novel series before where I had no real desire to press on beyond volume one.
The story isn’t a modern-day retelling of Washington Irving’s legend. It is set pretty much in the present (although, I notice, tech changes so fast that it’s immediately clear that this was set a decade ago. Has anyone considered how this constant change will affect literature?) where Abbey, the protagonist, is trying to come to terms with her best friend’s death. Since her best friend was really her only friend (some of us know what that can be like), she finds solace among strangers. Those strangers, it becomes clear late in the novel, are not what they seem to be. Throughout the novel both quotes from and discusses Irving’s story—how could any tale set in Sleepy Hollow not do so?
In any case, this is a quick read despite its size. Verday captures what it’s like to be a teenager. My experience of teenage girls was always limited, but I have no reason to doubt that she represents that part accurately. The funny thing about being an adult is that you learn that you don’t really know how to be one. For me, dips into youth help to center me when this whole adult thing just doesn’t seem to make any sense. I don’t want to give any spoilers for the story here, but I’ll likely move on to the second novel in the series before too long, and by the time you get to second in the series it’s okay to assume those reading about it won’t mind a bit more information. At least that’s the way I think about it, having once been young.
