Diet Soda Club
Empathy abounds in this wonderful story of sacrificial sibling love, problematic parent relationships, and friendships that can weather the worst of things. Reed Beckett is a teenager and a carer for his sister Beatrice. On her behalf, he rides the waves of what serious illness and major surgery mean, all the while navigating relationships and financial hardships that stretch him to the limit.
Hayden weaves Reed’s story with compassionate candour, the first-person narrative reflecting a young man’s realism about how difficult life can be. Emotionally engaging without ever being sentimental, and clear-eyed about the complex relationships we have with those whom we are closest to, Diet Soda Club invites young adult readers (and readers of all ages) to consider what failure and forgiveness, slip-ups and second chances look like in the real world, and why continuing to care really matters.
A key element of the story is its sensitive and intelligent handling of whether the ends justify the means and how morally confusing it can be to balance the injustices we face with choices that offer easy escape. Hayden manages to make the story morally engaging without ever lapsing into moralism or violating the emotional reality of what his characters are facing.
Diet Soda Club sweeps us up in its pacy plot, profoundly connects us to its characters, and invites us into the delights and dilemmas of teenage (and all age) challenges and triumphs – without ever sentimentalising the world or patronising its readers. A genuine joy of a book.
