True Believer is a young adult verse novel

Verse novel

A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose. Either simple or complex stanzaic verse-forms may be used, but there will usually be a large cast, multiple voices, dialogue, narration, description, and action in a...

 written by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Virginia Euwer Wolff

Virginia Euwer Wolff is a prize-winning American author of children's literature, born in Portland, Oregon 25 Aug 1937. She attended an all-girls' school called St. Helen's Hall , before attending Smith College. She married Arthur Richard Wolff in 1959...

. In Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...

, the reviewer noted that Wolff writes with "delicacy and sensitivity".

Characters

• Verna LaVaughn: LaVaughn is the protagonist of the story. She is named after her two grand aunts, Verna and LaVaughn, but goes by the name LaVaughn. LaVaughn is fifteen years old, telling what her life is like through that age. She tells how she falls in love with Jody, only to find him kissing another guy. LaVaughn briefly tells how her father dies, (he was an innocent bystander of a tragic shooting.) She tells how her mom is raising her in a slightly destitute type neighborhood, and also a little about her past.
• LaVaughn's mother: In the story, LaVaughn's mother does not get a name. LaVaughn's mom is a single mother. She is taking care of her daughter and herself alone, because her husband died. In True Believer, LaVaughn doesn't talk about her as much as she does with others, but when she does, you can get a feel for how wonderful and supportive her mother is LaVaughn even tells of her mother possibly finding love.
• Jody: Jody comes back to live in LaVaughn's apartment. He left because where he and LaVuaghn is from, children die at a young age and he and his mother did not want that to be the result of his life. He is the same age as LaVaughn, (fifteen). In the book, not many people get the chance to go to college. Like LaVaughn, he is determined not be another statistic. He wants to get into college and move away from the neighborhood. He hopes to win a swimming scholarship for college.
• Myrtle: In the book, Myrtle is LaVaughn's best friend. She grew up with LaVaughn, her father is a drug addict, trying to turn his life around in rehabilitation. Myrtle was also witness to the pain of losing her early childhood friends at young ages like 5. Myrtle may not be as determined to go to college as Jody and LaVaughn are but she does want to stay on the right track. Myrtle and Annie join a church, and from there, both of their lives are turned around, but this also pushes back their close friendship with LaVaughn, because LaVaughn doesn't go to church.
• Annie: Annie is another childhood friend of LaVaughn's in the book. She did not grow up with LaVaughn like Myrtle did, but she did go to school with them, and after awhile became their best friend. Annie's background isn't really described in True Believer. Myrtle and Annie join a church and after awhile became very attached to it. LaVaughn did not attend church with them at all, therefore their friendship kind of dwindled. Myrtle and Annie did not have as much to talk to LaVaughn about, because LaVaughn had different views. LaVaughn unknowingly questions God a lot throughout the book, while Annie and Myrtle goes go with what is dealt to them through the church.
• Patrick: Patrick, a guy born into a poor family and of slow speech, is described as LaVaughn's new biology partner in the book. When she is moved into that class, Patrick is really nice to her, As days progress, she says Patrick wears the same green shirt everyday, and Patrick's speech is terribly slow. Though he may have terrible speech, he is really good at biology, and really, science in particular. Patrick is also good in math , but not as much as he is in science.
• Jolly: Jolly is an old friend of LaVaughn's. LaVaughn babysat Jolly's kids when she was younger. In the book before True Believer, Make Lemonade told Jolly’s story. Jolly is a senior in true Believer, and is eighteen with two children, Jeremy, 3 and Jilly, 2. Jolly had a rough existence growing up, the guys that impregnated her left her way before the children were born, she raises the kids on her own, and the apartment she lives in terribly dirty. Jolly is trying to make a way for her kids, and herself so she goes back to high school so she too can graduate on time.
• Lester: LaVaughn's mom's new unofficial “boyfriend.’” She describes him as : “His name is Lester. He is at her new job. He is in charge of something there. And he is coming to our house to eat supper.” page 105. Lester comes over to dinner one night, and compliments on everything LaVaughn's mom cooks. Before Lester arrived, LaVaughn's mom pulled out all of the good dishes and the special vase her husband used to give her flowers in. In the evenings, he calls her . For a while everything is going good, and her mom is even thinking about moving into a house with Lester and LaVaughn as a sort of “family”. LaVaughn's mom finds out that Lester calls her every night from a pay phone, and the worse- he took out money from LaVaughn's savings account to pay for his own mortgage. After that, LaVaughn's mom leaves him.
• The Brain Cells: Ronell, Doug, Artrille, LaVaughn

Reception and themes

In an interview with the author, Horn Book Magazine reported that Wolff never listed the race of the characters on purpose because she wanted every reader to have their own view of the characters.

Horn Book Magazine mentioned the theme of how romantic feeling can take over everyday life. Roger Sutton, the reviewer, said that “LaVaughn's portrayal of her life at school and home becomes shaped by her feelings for Jody.” Publishers Weekly summarized the overall theme as being “one of the pivotal issues of puberty”: abstinence.

External links

• True Believer on Google Books