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Please Ignore Vera Dietz    by A. S. King Amazon.com order for
Please Ignore Vera Dietz
by A. S. King
Order:  USA  Can
Knopf, 2010 (2010)
Hardcover, e-Book

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* *   Reviewed by Lyn Seippel

Vera Dietz and Charlie Kahn have lived next door to each other their entire lives. They grow up as best friends. Charlie is the only friend Vera needs. Around school, she tries to make herself invisible.

Vera's parents married young when her mother became pregnant at seventeen. She left Vera and her dad when Vera was twelve. Her dad is a recovered alcoholic. He frequently reminds Vera that alcoholism is in her genes and that being more than friends with Charlie Kahn won't get her to college.

Vera works full time as a pizza delivery technician and goes to school, where she gets all A's. Lately, she has a lot to deal with. First, she loses her best friend because of lies his girlfriend told him; then she loses him permanently when he dies. Now he's badgering her to clear his name. No wonder she drinks.

Vera tells her story in the present tense but tells the story of her friendship with Charlie in past tense, where we watch them grow up. Charlie adds some things from the afterlife and her dad gives his take on Vera's drinking.

King introduces you to characters in peril and pulls you into their lives in only a few pages. Vera's story is sad, sweet and scary, and not one you'll want to put down until the end.

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