Title: Sean Griswold's Head 
Author(s): Lindsey Leavitt
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher/Year: Bloomsbury/2011
-Webpage: Lindsey Leavitt Webpage
-Blog: Lindsey Leavitt @ LJ

Synopsis:  According to her guidance counselor, fifteen-year-old Payton Gritas needs a focus object-an item to concentrate her emotions on. It's supposed to be something inanimate, but Payton decides to use the thing she stares at during class: Sean Griswold's head. They've been linked since third grade (Griswold-Gritas-it's an alphabetical order thing), but she's never really known him.

The focus object is intended to help Payton deal with her father's newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis. And it's working. With the help of her boy-crazy best friend Jac, Payton starts stalking-er, focusing on-Sean Griswold . . . all of him! He's cute, he shares her Seinfeld obsession (nobody else gets it!) and he may have a secret or two of his own.

In this sweet story of first love, Lindsey Leavitt seamlessly balances heartfelt family moments, spot-on sarcastic humor, and a budding young romance.

Rating:

Review:  Contemporary fiction, whether it be young adult or mainstream, doesn't often interest me.  If there's not some sort of magic or supernatural element running amok I'll probably not be interested.  The blurb for SEAN GRISWOLD'S HEAD however had me hooked.  I can't pretend I went through something similar to what happened to Payton, both of my parents are rather healthy all things considered, but Leavitt crafted a novel that spoke to my fears as a teenager.

Getting into fights with a friend, that first crush that blossoms into more, trying to maintain some sort of balance...that's all stuff that's easy to relate to and feel for.  High school is hard enough without then finding out your father is fighting a serious disease (never mind her family felt a need to hide it from her for her 'own good').

Throughout SEAN GRISWOLD I would begin to feel heart broken for Payton.  Her slow decline from compulsively organized to angry, hurt and rebellious teenager is a gradual degradation.  After he initial anger wears off Payton lashes out at her parents in a way she knows (instinctively) will hurt them.  Its not malicious or cruel, she is merely trying to hurt them the way they hurt her.  I could understand her feelings, it was a crappy way to find out about a life-altering disease and an even crappier way to find out that even after fifteen years of being the straightest edge you can imagine, her parents still didn't feel like she could cope.

Maybe they were right, if nothing else Payton proves that she jumps to the worst conclusions as quickly as possible from the barest information.  Sean has headaches--ergo he must have a brain tumor or something equally horrific and life-threatening.  She hates not having control and if she admitted that she was terrified of what could happen to her father she lost the control she based her life around.

Following Payton and Sean's courtship was amusing and exasperating.  Payton, and her friend Jaq, do practically everything a teen girl does when she has a crush.  They follow Sean.  Analyze the smallest fragment of a conversation.  Engineer ways to see him more.  Reading about Payton's quest to know more about him was like reading about my teen years spent trying to find out more about my crush.  Her ups and near misses and embarrassing moments had my feelings all over the place while I alternated between rooting for her to talk to him and wanting to smack her up side the head for being dense.

At times the writing is a little shallow and glosses over things, mostly because this is from Payton's point of view and her story.  I wanted to know more about Sean and Grady's friendship/past...but that had little bearing on the present.  Its my hope that Leavitt chooses to explore Grady's life and Jaq's life in the future, they both faced issues that teens handle every day and would make a good counterpoint to Payton's tale (though I'll be honest, I want to read more about how Payton and Sean turn out!).

In the end this book made me laugh, cry, sigh dramatically and ponder just how drama-filled high school can get.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable read and just as importantly, I think it handled difficult subjects in a way that teens (or even non-teens) can understand and emphasize with.