Mac

Mac seeks to explore the appalling trauma of sexual assault - a teenage boy, the Mac of the title, is assaulted by his doctor. His inability to articulate what has happened makes him suppress the anger and guilt he feels as a result and begins to destroy his school career, his relationships with his family and with Jenny, his girlfriend. Some characters - Mac's first counsellor, for example - are unacceptably stereotyped, a ploy by the author to accentuate the quality of the main protagonists. This is a largely unnecessary manoeuvre as many of the characters - particularly Mac and Jenny - convince the reader on their own merits. Some of MacLean's writing contains heavyhanded symbolism - Mac and Jenny walk into 'the first morning sun' after their reconciliation - but this is by and large an acceptably written book, if rather overwhelmingly American. Offer this selectively - there is a smattering of four-letter words - to third and fourth-year pupils.