After reading Brady Stefani’s The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman you will find yourself questioning everything you ever thought was real. The story follows Courtney Hoffman, a fifteen-year-old girl who has undergone a trauma in her youth. For the eight years since her grandfather purportedly tried to kill her Courtney has suffered with strange dreams and apparent delusions of aliens standing over her bed while a strange apparition of a girl haunts her waking hours. Her mother definitely doesn’t win any awards as she dismisses her daughter’s plight with coldness and distaste. Courtney finds herself wrapped up in an event that will change the very universe in which she lives and sets out uncovering the truth of her past with unlikely friends. It becomes a fine line for Courtney, trying to separate the illusions from reality and she most certainly has to go about it the hard way.

For a young adult writer Stefani certainly knows his audience. Written in an easy-to-read way his tale is easily digested without seeming juvenile or mundane. While the page count is quite high the reader will find that it’s not a difficult read. Stefani writes in a way that any person, young or old, will be able to identify with.

This novel touches on different views of what is mentally healthy and it’s clear that that Stefani did his research. While the average person might have to use the internet to find out information, Stefani writes in a way that makes the reader believe he truly understands the aspects of the human mind. Our minds can be dangerous and difficult.

It can be said that the human mind undergoes a great transformation during our teenage years. The fact remains that many young adults will have their first brush with suffering a mental break at this age. Stefani uses this to his advantage and keep the reader guessing about the stability of Courtney’s mind.

It’s evident that Courtney needs help. She is suffering and she is confused. The one person who she could have connected with is dead. Her parents are divorced and her father, while seemingly nice, doesn’t seem to have time to spare on his daughter. Her mother, on the other hand, does not have her daughter’s best interests at heart. It’s written in such a gripping fashion that readers will undoubtedly recognize certain dismissive behavior that the mother displays in other adults. It’s an ugly world out there and our protagonist is not spared this. Where many young adult stories have protagonists living in a seemingly perfect world where they learn they are special, Courtney comes from a fractured world very much like the one we all live in. This makes her special status that much more gratifying.

The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman is a delightful read and can stand alone very well. The ending leaves the universe open for other books, with or without Courtney, but it also wraps up in such a fashion that if no other books were to follow, the reader is still satisfied. Stefani is a genius that is not often seen any more.

Pages: 328 | ISBN: 1940716349