Life Is Funny

E. R. Frank&;s seminal first novel weaves together the stories of eleven teenagers in one city over seven years in this groundbreaking and &;impressive debut&; (Publishers Weekly, starred review).Why does Gingerbread always have a smile on his face? &;Because life is funny,&; he tells Keisha. But for her&;and almost everyone else in her Brooklyn neighborhood&;there doesn&;t seem to be much to laugh about. China, Ebony, and Grace are best friends, but Grace&;s mother isn&;t crazy about her being friends with two girls who aren&;t white, and each cut Ebony makes on her wrist seems to drive them even further apart. Just across the schoolyard there&;s Eric who has to raise his younger brother Mickey, even though no one expects him to amount to anything. Meanwhile, Sonia&;s Muslim parents expect everything of her, and it may be more than she is able to give after she suffers a shattering loss. When Drew brings his father&;s Jaguar into Sam&;s family&;s auto body shop across town they seem to be from opposite sides of the tracks, but Drew&;s the one hiding a dark family secret. And he&;s not the only one.