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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Review: Love Is The Higher Law


From Barnes and Noble:

The lives of three teens—Claire, Jasper, and Peter—are altered forever on
September 11, 2001. Claire, a high school junior, has to get to her
younger brother in his classroom. Jasper, a college sophomore from
Brooklyn, wakes to his parents’ frantic calls from Korea, wondering if
he’s okay. Peter, a classmate of Claire’s, has to make his way back to
school as everything happens around him.

Here are three teens whose intertwining lives are reshaped by this
catastrophic event. As each gets to know the other, their moments become
wound around each other’s in a way that leads to new understandings, new
friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the
people close by.



Love Is the Higher Law is a moving story about the events that took place
on 9/11. The story is told by three teenagers, two high school juniors
and a college sophmore. The story begins on the morning of 9/11 and
follows the characters throughout the year after the attacks. Each of the
characters is in a different place when the attack occur and each deals
with the events differently. However, as the story continues the reader
is able to see how the characters change and grow during the year. Their
relationships change dramatically and they realize that love truely is the
higher law (a lyric from a U2 song) and that only by letting other people
in can we begin to heal and grow. This is an incredibly genuine and
moving story about a tragic event which shaped each of our lives in
different ways. The story focuses on NYC and the Twin Towers, however,
the other tragic events of that day are not overlooked. This book
reminded me very much of Elie Weisel's Night (which you should also pick
up if you have not yet read it) in the way that I was able to connect with
the characters and identify with a major historical even. We will never
forget the events that took place on that historic day, unfortunatly as
time passes, the message of hope, love, and patriotism that abounded after
these events occured has been dramatically reduced in recent years.
Luckily, David Levithan reminds us over and over again that love truely is the
higher law. This is easily one of the best books that I have read this
year-and I have read a *lot* of books. Parents should be aware however,
that there is some adult language and mature content in this book.
Therefore, I would not recomment it for younger teens unless the parent
looks into it first.