You Should Read - Stone Garden by Molly Moynahan

In honour of my post on how hard it is these days to find good literary fiction to read, I bring you my third You Should Read post. I meant this to be a series and never got around to working on it. But it’s back for the summer!

I first heard about Molly Moynahan’s 2003 novel Stone Garden in a teen magazine. I find that mildly discomfiting now, because it’s a novel about murder. The novel begins with the finding of a teenage boy’s bones in a Mexican mass grave, and much of the plot revolves around narrator Alice’s attempt to come to terms with this shocking murder of her best friend and “soul mate,” Matthew.

Moynahan’s prose is beautifully evocative. She describes the effects of loss and grief upon the physical body as well as the mind. Alice is a complicated narrator – self-absorbed like many teenage girls, confused, hurting, desperate to keep Matthew for herself even after his death. She decides to work in a creative writing program for convicted felons as a high school project, befriends a shy girl with a tragic past of her own and generally searches for answers by wandering through her small town dazed and angry.

The adult characters are interesting enough – from Matthew’s grieving mother to sensible, caring teacher Mrs. Hardwood – but the stars of the novel are Moynahan’s teenagers. Alice, as noted, is complicated; her friend Sigrid, a musical prodigy struggling with the murder of her childhood babysitter, and Matthew’s sisters, troubled with drug and alcohol problems, are all compelling and relatable, if a bit mysterious.

The ending is oddly satisfying, perhaps not the most realistic as it tends towards the feel-good – but it’s what you want for these characters, who have had to come to terms with shocking, senseless violence at such a young age. (N.B.: the novel is mostly about rich students at a private school and they can often be smug.)

I recommend Stone Garden to anyone who likes smart teenage characters and excellent descriptive prose. Personally, I would put this right on the YA-adult fiction border. It's shelved in the adult fiction section in most of the bookstores where I've bothered to check, but it's definitely an acceptable read for a mature teenager.

I could see this as an Oprah's Book Club pick, but to be honest I think she usually makes good choices, so that shouldn't dissuade anyone!