Hard love - Ellen Wittlinger

For John, family life is a mess with an absent father who would rather be anywhere else on a Friday night than at dinner with his son, and an emotionally distant mother who can hardly bear to touch him. Is it any wonder that he pours all his feelings into a zine he writes called 'Bananafish'? Then he meets Marisol, zine fan and author of 'Escape Velocity', whose vibrant, self-assured personality wakes him out of his self-imposed stupor, and helps him begin to experience life for real. While at first their friendship is based on a mutual appreciation of zines, dysfunctional families and dreams of escape, soon both John and Marisol begin to shed their protective shells and open up to each other. Mistakenly, John takes this growing intimacy for love which leads to a disastrous date that leaves their friendship in ruins. As John desperately tries to make things right, he begins to realise just how hard love can be.