Anonymity by Janna McMahan

I'm about 1/4 of the way through Anonymity, a story about multiple characters all somehow tied together by a homeless girl named Lorelei.  This would be a good companion book to Can't Get There From Here and From Homeless to Harvard.   There is a shroud of mystery around Lorelei (hence the title) that makes me want to keep reading.   McMahan mentions Lorelei's brother at intervals and Lorelei appears to be searching for him.  The novel also hints at other reasons why this young lady (she should be in her junior year of high school) left home, but details are lacking so far. 

Emily, another major female character, appears to be drifting through her life without a real purpose.  She works and supports herself, but doesn't appear to be really using her abilities.  She doesn't seem unhappy, but nor does she really seem happy.  She enjoyed photography in school, but left her camera at home when she moved to Austin.  Now her mother has convinced her to experiment with photography again and she has met a man who may or may not become a love interest who needs a photographer.   From a photograph she took of this man, the reader can see that she has a good eye and knows how to use a camera.  There are multiple threads to her story that I want to follow.

The chapters of this novel revolve around one particular character at a time.  Lorelei and Emily are clearly the main characters at this point, but other people have had their own chapters.  This makes me wonder who of these other people will play greater roles in the plot as the story goes on.

I find this book less cliched than Can't Get There From Here, but it is written for a different audience.  If I teach Can't Get There From Here again, I may offer this book and From Homeless to Harvard as alternatives to my stronger readers.   The F word is present, but only when it would occur naturally in conversation.   UPDATE:  I would not give this book to a sophomore, which is when I teach Can't Get There.  Two pages of steamy sex don't ruin the book, but they do make this inappropriate for the classroom.

Enough writing...... back to reading......  (I love summer!)