Sunrise Nights

May 23

Florence and Jude spend summers in Michigan at Harbor Arts Camp. Every year on the last night, the "HAC"ers find someone at the bonfire to hang out with until sunrise. Florence is a dancer, Jude a photographer and when they meet that first year, they spend a perfect night exploring the city, teasing and joking, eating more junk food than should be legal, and somehow revealing some of their deepest emotions all in the space of 12 hours. They have a connection. But they've only known each other for one night and Jude has a girlfriend besides. They agree to not exchange numbers and not speak for the next year. They'll see each other again next Sunrise Night at HAC if Florence even comes again. Her nystagmus is getting worse and who knows how much longer she'll dance.

I'll be the first to admit that this book's writing style and format drove me a little bonkers at first. The chapters are short and succinct, written from both characters' points of view. Each chapter is either formatted like poetry or straight dialogue. The line breaks on the page made it hard for me to read at first. But it was also so beautiful that I quickly decided I would give it a try in a different format. I checked out the audiobook from my library and listening to it made all the difference. Once I got the cadence of these characters' voices in my head I was able to switch back to print with little trouble.

This book captures the feeling of young love, of moths to a flame (or bonfire), of immediate attraction, curiosity, and friendship. Florence and Jude are 16, figuring themselves and the world around them out. They're artists who see beauty in the world but also have experienced a great deal of disappointment already in their young lives. The story was funny and heartwarming, sad and self-aware. It's been a while since I read a YA novel that was this well done.

My only question is, would teens 15-18 enjoy this as much as I did? It had a mixture of wisdom and maturity while maintaining pop culture references and jokes for that age group. I think this would appeal to its intended audience, but somehow this mid-30s millennial was still captured by the feelings of nostalgia for long summer nights, camp life, and first love. But maybe that's the magic of this one. I'll definitely be picking up more by Zentner and Cavallaro, respectively.