The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

Date Started: July 28, 2009 Date Finished:July 28, 2009

Summary: Nina, Avery, and Melanie have been friends for a very long time. During the summer of junior year, Nina goes off to a precollege at Stanford University for ten weeks. During that time she meets Steve, an ecowarrior from Portland, Oregon who was raised by three generation of hippies. While she's away Mel realizes her feelings for the opposite sex and her affections have transfered to her friend, Avery. The two girls start dating. When Nina returns, she feels left out and ultimately walks in on her two friends making out in the fitting rooms. Now Nina is caught in the middle between her two friends, Avery who is confused about her sexuality and Melanie who is sure about her sexuality but is too afraid to come out to her single parent father and her distant and status obsessed mother.

Likes: I liked this story and the different conflicts between the characters. They story was believable and bittersweet. The characters were also real people in my opinion and didn't seem like cardboard cutouts for the most part. Sure they were types, Nina being the hardworking A+++ student, Avery the cynical wise ass,and Mel, the unexpected lesbian (but for some reason no one seemed surprised). Johnson has alot of types in her story, but she gives them defining characteristics that seem more than the average types.

Dislikes: Johnson is a huge fan of roadtrip stories. In my opinion, it's starting to get a little predictable. It's interesting but it's starting to become a trope that Johnson often refers to get characters together and work things out. It's a really annoying habit that I hope starts to get phased out of her other works (which my email just informed me are currently available for pick-up.) because there are other ways of getting characters to talk things out. Other than that major pet peeve, there doesn't seem to be anything else that bugged me. Some of the storylines never seemed to go anywhere and never got any closure, which also seems to be the case in some of Johnson's other works. Sometimes there just needs to be another chapter to sum up the state of how things may be. 

 

Overall: I liked this book. It's a different type of story than Johnson's other works and it explores the dynamics of friendship more closely than her other works as well. It has a good ending, but it still needs a little closure. Instead of an ending, it seems like it's a new beginning. It's an interesting way to read a story and it's a refreshing and satisfying ending for the most part.