Baby & Solo

There's a lot of mental and emotional violence, much of it with good intentions, in the wake of a past family tragedy, most of it falling on Joel and landing him in mental hospitals. A suicide and a suicide attempt in the distant past have far-reaching, traumatic effects. A character aborts a child who's very much wanted by the father. Another pregnant character faces pressure from her ex-boyfriend to do likewise.

Teens having sex and the unplanned pregnancies that result, past and present, are a recurring theme, but the sex happens in the background and there's no graphic description. In the past, bored teens in a mental hospital had a lot of sex to pass the time, with bad results including a suicide attempt. A character discovers his father is cheating on his mom. A gay character has a crush on a guy who likes him but doesn't return his feelings. A teen girl dresses and behaves provocatively in inappropriate situations (sexually harassing the guys she supervises at work).

Plentiful strong language, including "f--k," "s--t," "piss," "dick," "ass," "a--hole," "bitch," "boobs," "damn," "goddamn," "hell," "crap."

Several scenes involve the restaurant/bar where a character's mom works. Adults and teens drink alcohol, some to excess, which is not seen as attractive, especially the barfing. An older teen girl going through a hard time drinks a lot and then drunkenly tries to get teen guys to have sex before she eventually passes out medical attention. An adult character chain-smokes, and other adult and teen characters smoke on occasion.

Parents need to know that Lisabeth Posthuma's Baby & Solo is set in 1996 and told by an angsty, overthinking 17-year-old boy who's just emerged from years of therapy and harrowing stints in psychiatric hospitals in the wake of a mysterious family tragedy. Now he's hoping to have a normal life, starting with a job at the neighborhood video rental store. On his first day of work, he's given the name Solo (after Han, because he likes Star Wars -- all the employees take the name of movie characters). He also meets his new colleague, diligent, hardworking, snarky, and frequently puking Baby (reluctantly stuck with the name of the lead character in Dirty Dancing). As the story unfolds and an uneasy friendship develops, crises emerge and past traumas are revealed -- teen sex and pregnancy, homophobia, parents cheating on spouses, suicide, problem drinking, imaginary friends, and more -- amid more mundane miscommunication, regret, unrequited crushes, and workplace squabbles. Strong language ("f--k," "s--t," "piss, "a--hole") is common. The story carries positive messages of friendship, empathy, kindness, support, dependability, and understanding, even -- and especially -- when people don't live up to your expectations and things are running off the rails on numerous fronts. The protagonists spend a lot of time dealing with overwhelming issues and don't always make the right decisions, but each of their moral compasses keeps them on a path to figuring out who they really are, doing the right thing, and making an authentic, happy life.