Review Detail

With a mysterious title and a visceral cover image of a grapefruit being squeezed, Grapefruit Moon invites readers to turn the page and figure out what it all means. The book alternates perspectives of Charlotte, a well-to-do girl, and Drew, a scholarship kid in a wealthy private school in Ireland. They both are dealing with the most powerful boy in school, Adam, who leads the snobby society called the Stewards. He has all the power to get teachers to change grades, overlook drinking on campus, and excuse tardies if they are part of the Stewards. The Spanish teacher, Don Antonio, is the only one who tried to get Adam disciplined and now this favorite teacher of Charlotte and Drew has a target on his back.
This book defies the easy tropes that I expected to find. It is not a romance where Charlotte and Drew end up together at least not in the expected relationship. Our main characters have flaws and the reader still likes them. Drew causes his downfall and tries to outrun the consequences making everything worse until he just gets too tired to do anything but face them. Charlotte is a victim but even though she dreams of justice, sometimes those in power cannot be brought down in a glorious moment of comeuppance. She must navigate the situation the best she can and move on from the consequences afterward.
This book takes a raw and emotional look at the reality many teenagers navigate with friends and relationships. It is not easy to grow up and it is not easy to deal with bad decisions and our characters must still find the strength to do hard things anyway.
As an American reading a book set in Ireland a few of the references and phrases left some inferencing needed in places. The topics addressed involve teen pregnancy, blackmail and bullying, and sexual harassment making this book better for older YA audiences.