What’s a questioning girl to do when the world demands answers, and then doesn’t like the ones you have to give?
For seventeen-year-old Astrid Jones, the questions feel huge and the answers too scary to face head on. Who is she, and what does she want, and when does her real life start? Until now, she has defined herself by others: the disappointing older daughter of a controlling, too-city-for-small-town mother and an under-employed, pot-head father; the older sister of Ellis, her living-up-to-mom’s expectations younger sister; and best friend of Kristina, the closeted popular girl, playing the facade of king and queen of the school with her equally closeted boyfriend. But as Astrid struggles to see herself clearly under the weight of everyone else’s expectations of her, the reader can see her for who she really is – a young woman deeply true to herself, searching for truth, and questioning not only who she is, but who anyone is, and who gets to decide.
To cope with the strain of uncertainty and disappointment, Astrid sends her love to passengers on the planes that pass overhead so that “no one can control it,” so that she can “be free.” And she swallows a daily diet of Rolaids to quiet the questions churning inside and to deal with the claustrophobia of small town life. Rolaids every time she imagines the gossip in the halls. Rolaids every time her mother cuts Astrid and her father down as the family losers, or turns her conspiratorial attention and praise to Ellis. Rolaids every time Astrid wonders why she stops her secret girlfriend Dee at kissing, and if wanting to go slow means she’s not really gay.
But as many teens learn, doubts and questions and secrets have a way of eating away at you. And as Astrid keeps more secrets, her life gets more complicated. An advanced placement humanities class layers questions from philosophers past, even as it gives Astrid the tools to deal with the fallout when all her secrets come crashing down. And King’s use of the theories of Plato and Socrates and Zeno gives Astrid, and the reader, a framework to ask big questions about our current constructs of society, identity, and truth.
Ask the Passengers, by A.S. King (Little, Brown and Company, 2012) is, first and foremost, about questioning, and questioning more than sexuality. It’s a book that suggests the act of questioning is often more important than the answers, and the answers can’t be rushed.
Too often novels involving LGBTQ characters, especially those published for adolescent readers, focus on the character’s need to come out to others. Too infrequently do those books focus on the process of coming out to one’s self, and depict that process with the seriousness, respect and tenderness of Ask the Passengers. Astrid refuses to put herself in a box or adopt a label just to make everyone else more comfortable. And King treats questioning as a natural and important part of the coming out process.
King fully develops her characters with depth and dimension through careful detail, and infuses the story with layers of meaning through Astrid’s distinctive voice and well-woven metaphor. The relationship between Astrid and Ellis is particularly organic to the shifting alliances and wounds of an at times prickly sibling relationship. Special appearances by the passengers of the planes overhead and Socrates himself may add an element of literary debate about whether these are projections from Astrid’s inner world or elements of magical realism. Astrid’s inner dialogue is smart and funny as often as it is poignant. Ask the Passengers is an important book, perhaps even groundbreaking, but more importantly it will resonate with readers, who will be eager to discuss it. And it’s a book about the near universal moment in adolescence when you have to decide to be the pilot of your life, rather than a passenger in your parents’ plane.
And yes, it is a coming out story, but it is not only a coming out story. It is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book for twenty-first-century teens, about a girl who refuses to leave the closet only to be shoved into a box.