User:Zehbra/Sandbox
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| Downers Grove | |
| 200px 2001 Paperback edition cover |
|
| Author | Michel Hornburg |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young adult |
| Publisher | Grove Press New York |
| Publication date | 1999 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 231 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-8021-3793-8 |
Downers Grove is a novel by Michael Hornburg published in 1999. The story is set in the real existing suburb Downers Grove near Chicago but the plot is completely fictional. It was later planned to be adapted into a screenplay but never realized.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
After a party on which an unknown guy they later refer to as „Neckbrace“ is nearly raping Chrissie, “Neckbrace” and his friends are chasing her and her best friend Tracy by car. To get rid of them Chrissie heaves a car battery into their windshield. The boys then try to get revenge by blowing up her locker, putting dead dogs in her driveway and showing up in the worst situations possible. Chrissie, in fear that she might be the one threatened by the curse, which says that every year one high school senior must die before graduation, tries to distract herself with parties and Bobby, a handsome mechanic she has had a crush on for quite a while. Neither her single mother who’s busy with a new guy she met at church, nor her brother who’s hooked on hard drugs have the time to take care of her. Her best friend Tracy meanwhile only cares about boys and isn’t of any help either. Only her slightly crazy grandmother takes the time to sometimes listen to her. In the end Neckbrace and two of his buddies get killed while racing against Bobby. Bobby then leaves town. Chrissie stays behind not knowing where her future will lead.
[edit] Characters in Downers Grove
- Chrissie Swanson
- Tracy (Chrissies best friend)
- Bobby (Chrissies love-affair)
- Chrissie's Mom
- David (Chrissie's Brother)
- Chrissie's grandmother
- „Astronaut“ (Mother’s friend)
- „Neckbrace“ (Guy who tries to rape Chrissie)
- Neckbrace's buddies
- Asha Lorenza (has eyes for Bobby)
- Bobby's friends
- School staff
[edit] Main character description
[edit] Chrissie Swanson
Chrissie, as her friends call her, is a high school senior living in Downers Grove. Her full name, Crystal Methedrine Swanson, comes from a bad joke her parents formed when she was born. Her dad says she was conceived during a crystal meth excursion in the woods. She lives with her mother and her heroin addicted brother David, her father left the family when she was young. Chrissie's best friend is Tracy. She hasn't had nearly as many affairs as Tracy, but she has a crush on Bobby, a handsome mechanic.
[edit] Tracy
Tracy is Chrissies best friend. Although Chrissie seems to be very important to her, boys and parties easily distract her. Together with Chrissie she publishes As My Stomach Turns, a school fanzine whose first edition was about a shooting in the school parking lot the school paper didn't write about.
[edit] Bobby
Bobby is a mechanic who works in Chrissie's neighbourhood. He is a very talented racecar driver, but he only participates in illegal races, dreaming of a career as a legit racecar driver. He then participates in the Miller 100, an official race (in reference to Harry Miller), where he comes in second. Chrissie is attracted to him because he seems very mysterious; rough yet poetic to her. In the end he is broke and borrows money from Chrissie to try his luck in the Casino – but fails miserably.
[edit] Chrissie's Mother
After being left by her husband – Chrissies dad – years ago, she was looking for a new man to give her some kind of safety in her life. With the "astronaut" she met at church she found a man to fit her needs. They get into a deeper relationship very quickly and the "astronaut" proposes to Chrissie's mom. Although Chrissie is not very happy about her mom having a relationship with a new man, she does understand, that her mom is desperately in of somebody she can rely on. After having some troubles on their first joint trip to Las Vegas, it is unclear how their relationship continues, but Chrissie is sure that they will find their way.
[edit] Chrissie's Grandma
Chrissie's grandmother lives in a small farmhouse behind Chrissie's home. She is quite interested in experimenting with electronics, but her experiments aren't always a success; she almost burned down her house once. In the story she often talks to Chrissie at night when the two meet by coincidence in the garden connecting their houses. She is the only one in the story who has the time to listen and talk to Chrissie without having something else in mind all the time.
[edit] Symbols & Motifs
Downers Grove utilizes some symbols to underline current and future story elements.
[edit] Curse
It is said that there is a curse lying on all the high school graduates that one of them has to be killed before graduation. The curse reappears several times in the form of "Neckbrace" and his friends scaring Chrissie, making it clear that Chrissie might be the victim of this curse.
[edit] Burning Factory
Early on there is talk of a big fire in a factory outside Downers Grove, which Chrissie then goes seeing with Bobby on their first date. The fire stands for a bad thing coming soon ("Neckbrace") and underlines the "curse" they are waiting to happen.
[edit] Weather
As Chrissie tries to get away from "Neckbrace" in whom she accidentally bumped in at a bar far away from civilization, it starts raining heavily, soaking Chrissie to the bones. Afterwards the basement of Chrissie's home is flooded with water, forcing her brother David to live upstairs for a few days.
[edit] Cars
With Bobby being a mechanic and racing cars and Chrissie heaving a car battery into Neckbraces car they obviously are omnipresent in the book. There is, however, also the Swanson's family car, which has a somewhat important role for Chrissie and her mother. As it breaks down on the way to church, the "astronaut" takes them with him, leaving the family car with the local garage. In the end, Bobby uses the fixed car to leave town with, giving Chrissie the feeling that he will always have something with him to remember her.

