Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke : Book Review

Wink Poppy Midnight
By April Genevieve Tucholke
Published by Dial Books, 2016
Print: $17.99
Ebook: $9.99

Well, to say this novel starts out with a bang isn't an exaggeration, as two of its characters, a boy named Midnight, and a girl named Poppy, at the age of 16, give their virginity to each other. Midnight is totally in love with Poppy. On the other hand, Poppy doesn't really give a crap about Midnight. She's in love with someone else who doesn't return her feelings, and so she sleeps with Midnight just for the hell of it.

They don't have a very good relationship because Poppy is an awful person. Them having sex becomes a regular thing but Midnight's love is returned with ridicule and disgust on Poppy's part. The dynamic starts to shift when Midnight moves to the outskirts of town in the country and hopes that it will create some space from Poppy.

Midnight's new neighbors are the Bells, whose single mother is a psychic fortuneteller. The Bells are known to be "witches and weirdoes". Her children are even called "The Orphans" because their father isn't around and their mom just lets the kids run wild and free in the forest and in the house.

Wink, one of the kids, is around Midnight's age, and he starts to fall for her, which doesn't set well with Poppy, who still wants to keep Midnight wrapped around her finger.

The thing that makes this novel work is its characters. They are a cut above most young adult lit in their complexity and inner life. I think my favorite was Poppy. Even though she is cast as the villain or antagonist of the book, I found that as I got to know her, I started to like her. She IS an awful person....or is she? There are reasons why she is the way she is, as we learn over the course of the book. Wink, Midnight's new love interest, is portrayed as the "good girl", the "innocent", but she's not as nice as she seems either.

That's the cool thing that the author pulls off. I mean it even says it on the blurb on the cover of the book: "A hero. A villain. A liar. Who's who?". Even Midnight, who is the "hero" by default, never quite lives up to his moniker. Tucholke sets up the familiar archetypes of stories and then proceeds to undermine our preconceptions.

This is a young adult book but be aware that there are lots of sexual situations, but not graphic, and there are some f-bombs scattered thru the book. All in all, an entertaining read and deeper than most examples of the genre.

My Grade: B-