Fiction for Teens

Release is one day in the life of seventeen-year-old Adam, a gay teen with a homophobic preacher father from Washington. It’s a big day for him, with heartbreak, love, secrets being told, relationships breaking down; Adam will learn a lot from today…

As with many of Patrick Ness’s books, I found it hard to summarise the book without giving too much away. The book has references to Judy Blume’s Forever and Mrs. Dalloway, however as I have read neither of them, I feel like I can’t comment on how much they added to the story.

Dispersed within the main story was an unusual second story with a fawn and a Queen. It had a different writing style, similar to that in much older books. This parallel story was mentioned briefly in the main story, but I didn’t quite understand it’s significance. Somehow it had a deeper metaphorical meaning, however it wasn’t really clear enough for me.

I felt like the supporting characters, aside from the main characters, weren’t explored enough, however, this did not take away from the fact that it was a heartwarming book about self-discovery, young love, and making good choices.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Release is definitely one for the older teens out there, due to some inappropriate content.