This is a there go I but for the grace of God kind of story. This was on the 100 notable books of 2011 list, and I am grateful for that, because otherwise I would have missed this book, and that would have been a shame. I do not always agree that those books are the best of the year, but they are usually very good at the least, and since I am not completely steeped in the book world, I would mis many of them.
Liz and Richard Bergamot are upper middle class everyday parents. He is the reason they are newly moved to Manhattan and she is the one staying home to make sure the transition goes well, resenting every minute of it, which leads to day time drinking and the occasional joint (ok, that is perhaps not the norm, but it doesn't lead to the central problem in the book). They have two kids, one adopted and young (Coco) and one biological and a 15 year old teen (Jake).
Jake goes to a party where there is lots of alcohol, no parents, one night hook-ups and while he turns down sex with a 13 year old, she sends him a graphic video of herself via email the next day. He had a response to it that confuses and overwhelms him, so he sends it to his best friend, who sends it to two people, and then it goes viral. By Monday, everyone has seen it and Jake is sitting at the epicenter of the storm he has unleashed.
The writing is outstanding, the story is well told, the consequences for both teens involved is heart breaking, and the narcissism of their parents is frightening...and a cautionary tale.
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