Virtual Silence

Witty and satisfying, Schweighardt's third novel (after Homebodies) explores such familiar themes as adolescent alienation and coming-of-age while sensitively considering the consequences for a bright teenage girl, already confused about identity, sexuality and psychological safety, of witnessing the random murder of a friend. Narrator Ginny Jarrett, a high-school senior from upstate New York who embodies an appealing combination of innocence and wryness, takes a vow of silence after she sees her friend Bev die when a stranger opens fire in a New Jersey diner. Ginny's decision to buy a gun of her own for protection leads to an awkward but oddly intimate relationship with a disreputable boy at school, the only person she'll talk to. Meanwhile, her relationships with her best female friends quickly deteriorate. At the same time, Ginny becomes privy to the heartaches affecting the adults in her life--her divorced parents, their two best friends and a New Age yoga instructor. The heroine's feisty intelligence is engaging, but readers can't escape the fact that her irony, insight and acute articulateness are the hallmarks of a seasoned adult rather than of a teenager. Ginny's eventual reunion with her friends is rather sudden, too, but it not only allows for an upbeat, life-affirming conclusion, but also provides pleasing, if partial, closure to her poignant tale of loss, growth and self-forgiveness. (Oct.)