Love is awkward, as fans of Rainbow Rowell and E. Lockhart well know. Funny and heartbreaking in equal measure, this grocery store romance was a Morris Award Finalist for Best YA debut.
"Smart, honest and full of achingly real characters. And it made me laugh. What else would you want in a book?" —Melina Marchetta, Printz Award-winning author
From the moment Amelia sets eyes on Chris, she is a goner. Lost. Sunk. Head over heels infatuated with him. It's problematic, since Chris, 21, is a sophisticated university student, while Amelia, 15, is 15.
Amelia isn't stupid. She knows it's not gonna happen. So she plays it cool around Chris—at least, as cool as she can. Working checkout together at the local supermarket, they strike up a friendship: swapping life stories, bantering about everything from classic books to B movies, and cataloging the many injustices of growing up. As time goes on, Amelia's crush doesn't seem so one-sided anymore. But if Chris likes her back, what then? Can two people in such different places in life really be together?
Through a year of befuddling firsts—first love, first job, first party, and first hangover—debut author Laura Buzo shows how the things that break your heart can still crack you up.
"A sweet and scathingly funny love story." —Kirkus, Starred Review
- Hard cover
Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Warm fuzzies and nostalgia all over the place.
By nataliewwrites
Why is it that it's so much harder to write reviews for books you love? I mean, I could go on for pages and pages about the books I didn't like and all the things that were wrong with them, but ask me to review one of my favorites and it's all spluttering and gushing and then I just say READ IT or YOU WILL LIKE IT, I PROMISE. Which, you know, is usually true, but not all that helpful. Ahem.But that brings me to my point, which is that Good Oil, or, as it will be known here in the States, Love and Other Perishable Items, is one of the good ones. In fact, for me at least, it's one of the great ones. I think this book might now be in my top five favorites. It's at least top ten. And how do I know this? Number one because of how it made me feel: giddy and light and warm and fuzzy and nostalgic and hopeful all wrapped into one. Those are the main reasons, obviously. Reason number two is stated in paragraph numero uno: I can't seem to write a review that says more than READ IT or YOU WILL LIKE IT, I PROMISE. I sat here staring at my computer screen for a good half hour earlier, right after I finished, trying to think of what to say do do this book justice. I kept deleting paragraphs because they weren't good enough, until finally I slammed my laptop closed in frustration and left to get dinner. After a good refueling, I think I'm ready to give this another try.Part of what makes this book so special for me is the narrators. Chris and Amelia are wonderful characters, well rounded and fully fleshed out. I feel like I know them, like I could slip into the pages, sit down at the table in the break room at Woolies, and have a good chat about books, and the role of women in a society based on patriarchy. I'd like to have a beer with Chris (and I don't even like beer) or help Amelia take care of her little sister Jess. That's how real they are. And what I love most about them is how well Buzo captured their respective life stages. When I read Amelia's sections, I feel like I'm fifteen again, and not in a bad way. It makes me remember the good parts and look at the not so good parts with fondness instead of embarrassment. When I read Chris's sections, I feel like I'm listening to one of my friends now, worrying about what the future holds and how to get out of the in-between space that so many people find themselves in during the last few years of college and the first few years out of it.And that brings me to another point, which is that I think the way this novel is structured is brilliant. I loved getting the story through Amelia's eyes first, and then getting to go back and see Chris's perspective. It's so effective, because first you get her younger, slightly more naive yet still important view of what's happening, and then you get Chris, who's a little older, a little more jaded, and a little less perfect than Amelia imagines him to be. I loved getting to hear his side of the story. It's so gratifying to see what the object of a crush thinks, especially in as unconventional situation as this. The relationship that develops between Chris and Amelia is so sweet and genuine and adorable. I can't get enough of it. It's one of those cases of meeting the right person at the wrong time, but the way Buzo handles it is, in my opinion, perfect. And the structure of the novel is part of what makes it so, because we get to see each of them through the others' eyes and see how they each grow and change because of each other.What more can I say about this novel? I laughed. I cringed in sympathy. I wanted to call up my best friends and reminisce about how stupid we were over boys when we were Amelia's age. As soon as I finished, I wanted to start reading it again.This is a book for everyone, because Buzo so perfectly captures what it's like to be a teenager and what it's like to be on the brink of adulthood, unsure of where to step next. We've all been there, or we will be, and this is a book that can show you that it's okay to make mistakes and stumble, because we all do. And it's okay to be open to new people and new friendships, because you never know who's going to be important to you.Basically, what I'm trying to say is...read it. You'll like it. I promise.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Great Story
By Maggie
I was super excited to read this book. From the moment I read about the book (I think it's one of Kirkus' best YA of 2010?) I was hooked on the premise. I guess I should say that I worked retail starting as a 16 year-old and I had many crushes on some of the older guys I worked with ;)The actual book thrilled me less than the build up to reading it. I really liked Amelia, she was feisty and very real and as someone who was once in her situation (although not as intensely) I think her emotions rang true. Chris, I liked less. I liked his interactions with Amelia, but his journal entries, which are probably about 40% of the book, sometimes got a little off-topic. Without giving anything away I will say I liked how the journal entries tied into the story line towards the end.About the cover, the cover here, which I assume is the Australian cover, doesn't really paint a great picture of the book. I think the girl looks too old to be Amelia and the girl and guy look too intimate to be Chris and Amelia. But the US cover, which is a drawing, makes the book look a lot younger than it is.Which brings me to another point...when I was reading the first part of the book, which is in Amelia's voice, I was concerned I wouldn't be able to enjoy it because she's so young and inexperienced that it was hard for me to relate. I like YA, but I like older YA. But then the voice switched to Chris' POV and I felt the book got much older. Lots of sex, lots of drugs, lots of cursing--which doesn't bother me, but I did think it was a pretty big contrast.Overall, I don't know if I agree with Kirkus, but it was a pretty good book and a really concept. In reality probably 3.5 stars.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.An intelligent, emotionally satisfying book
By The Compulsive Reader
Amelia is fifteen. She just got her braces off and she’s started her first job at a grocery store. She is in love with her co-worker Chris. Chris is smart, funny, confident…and twenty-one. He’s in his final year at university and there is no way, not a chance, that he’d be interested in Amelia. But Amelia can’t help but find herself drawn to him, and as their conversation get increasingly intense and personal, she can’t help but wonder if a relationship with him just might work…Love and Other Perishable Items is a smart, painfully awkward, and realistic novel is told in both Amelia’s and Chris’s voices over the course of an emotionally tumultuous year. Buzo’s coming of age story takes most of its action from the grocery store setting in which both protagonists work, and the many zany and entertaining characters who work there. The plot isn’t particularly action-driven, but the characters’ thoughts and motivations are smart and insightful, and both Amelia and Chris ask the reader to ponder questions about love, modern family dynamics, education, and the consequences of feminist movements. With many quiet revelations and comically awkward scenes, Amelia and Chris learn to work through their personal issues, their feelings for each other, and how to embrace an uncertain future. Love and Other Perishable Items is an intelligent, satisfying book, and readers will be reluctant to leave Buzo’s carefully constructed world.Cover Comments: I really appreciate the simplicity of this cover, and I think it fits well with the story. The interior design is also really nice.
