Sin (Rush Hour #1)

The Rush Hour series was a very ambitious project and sadly, short-lived (it was to be published twice a year originally, and I understand now that they've stopped after just 4 volumeshopefully the news is wrong). An anthology mixing short fiction, poetry, and essays, Rush Hour: Sin is a cutting-edge mix of a little bit of everything.

That's the only bad thing about so many voices (or is it a bad thing? Hmmmm); sometimes it seems like the message, whatever it is, gets a little muddied. For instance, in Sin, there are 19 different contributions and some have a very tenuous connection to sin (at least in my mind). But perhaps that's the point&what is sin, anyway? One person's definition won't necessarily match another's.

I'd be interested to talk with a teenager about what they think of this collection of pieces, as some seemed (at least to me) to be geared more towards older readers. The non-fiction pieces were particularly guilty of this, as was a historical fiction piece about the Viet-Nam war (it dealt with a little known bit of history involving the Hmong people's involvement in the fighting and was a very gritty and truthful piece). Other pieces were perfect YA reads, like the one about a young intern having to decide whether to go with her morals or just go along with the crowd.

If nothing else, every piece in this volume will make you think and you can't beat that. The stories are challenging, the essays enlightening, and the poetry entertaining (I'm a sucker for Sonya Sones any day). Officially, this could be read by anyone 12 and up, though some pieces (that Viet-Nam one in particular) I'm happier recommending to 14 and up.