Please Ignore Vera Dietz

King, A.S. (2010). Please Ignore Vera Dietz. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf
This realistic mysterious novel was a gripping fiction tale that begins with the funeral of Charlie Kahn and the ex-best friend of Vera Dietz.  Vera and Charlie were neighbors that grew up together fell in love and grew apart in high school. Vera tells the story with the voice of a mixed up teen that has lived with a single father since her mother left them when she was only twelve.  Her father was a penny pinching, boring accountant and her mother was an ex stripper who ran away with a doctor in town. Charlie lived in a home with an abusive father and broken down mother.  Before Charlie died he had begun to withdraw from Vera and their was many other conflicts due to his new girl friend Jenny.  Vera tells how she was bullied and become quite a recluse at school.  She drinks alcohol and tries to forget things.  She is mad at Charlie for dying, yet wants to clear his name of a bad reputation and all the while speak of her hate for Jenny.  She meets and has a fling with a twenty-five year old co-worker at the pizza place where she works and appears to be putting herself in a path of destruction. Without giving away the ending she eventually goes to the police station to try to clear her friends name and reveals her struggles and reasons for depression.  I took the story to be funny, depressing, sometimes gloomy, yet mysterious.  I did not enjoy the way the book skipped around so much with multiple voices speaking through out.  The Pagoda voice was my least favorite.  I can see teens relating to this story because of the details that are given about bullying, drugs, alcohol and acceptance from others.  She speaks a great deal about school and describes feeling of being an outcast or lonely.  She gives of voice to multiple types of characters some liked and some not so liked.  She sees the 1000 ghost of Charlies and uses them to help solve the mystery. Other books by A.S. King are Everybody Sees the Ants and Ask the Passengers.