Character Love: Drea, Harmonic Feedback

HARMONIC FEEDBACK
Tara Kelly
Henry Holt & Company

Reading a novel by an author I've never read before is always exciting, and even more so when it's a debut author. I'm never sure what to expect, haven't heard too much, and don't have other books to compare it to. I don't know the writing style or what sort of characters to expect.

And sometimes a character like Drea comes along. The protagonist of Harmonic Feedback, Tara Kelly's debut novel, is a teenage girl diagnosed with both ADHD and, as the doctor's say, "a touch of Asperger's." She's bluntly honest, socially awkward partly because she doesn't understand the implicit rules everyone else seems to live by, and hates being defined by her issues. She's a late bloomer, hasn't had a real friend in years, and gets anxious over things that other kids don't think twice about.

She's not the norm. Not in fiction and not, I think, in real life either. But - not to make this too personal - I related to her, saw some of my own problems reflected in her, and I think a lot of other readers will also. Lots of us are late bloomers, or have anxiety, or don't quite know the right thing to say and the right way to act. We don't understand what's expected of us and don't understand the things others say or the things they do. Most of us are a little separated from our peers. Drea just brings this to a slightly higher level and wears a label along with her issues.

Some characters I want to hug and reassure that everything will be alright. Others I aspire to be more like. With Drea though, I couldn't be sure that everything would work out and I saw too much of myself reflected to want to be like her, but I wished we could be friends. Drea is the sort of character who is realistically flawed, incredibly different, and absolutely win.