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'Polly' by Amy Bryant

HarperCollins, $13.95, 288 pages

By Marilyn Perez
Published: February 17th, 2007 | 1:24pm

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Sometimes, our character is shaped based on whom we have relationships with. PollyClark is a young girl living in a Washington, D.C. suburb with her mother and stepfather who, she believes, don't care about what goes on in her life. She struggles to fit in, starting with the junior high school drill team; that didn't work out so well. Soon enough, she accepts that she is an outsider and lives a different kind of life from the popular kids. Her family is not rich and her biological father is an alcoholic struggling to stay in her life. She views the world differently than the other kids. She is also discovering music, boys, and sexuality.

Compared to the other kids at school, Polly is a late bloomer when it comes to sex. She doesn't get most of the crude jokes made by others and is unsure about whether or not she lost her virginity one snowy afternoon. Like a lot of young girls, Polly is insecure about her thin, flat-chested frame and can't understand why her first period didn't bring on the curves and boobs it has brought to some of her other friends. Her naivety ends up with her making not so good decisions in boyfriends either.

From junior high school through college, Polly meets different boys, which each chapter is devoted to. She turns to them for security and refuge. All the while, she is looking to bust out of the suburbs and discovers the thriving D.C. hardcore scene, getting lost listening to Bad Brains and Dag Nasty. Some boyfriends teach her a hard lesson in reality. She's cheated on, abused, and raped. It isn't until after these occurrences that Polly re-evaluates what is going on in her life and finds that maybe the partying, the drinking, and the drugs will not bring her the comfort and safety she thought it would provide. Once in college she discovers her new passion for art and her independence from friends and family. She discovers that she does not need to have all the answers right away and that it is OK to explore what you're not familiar with.