BOOK: Breaktime/Dance On My Grave - Aidan Chambers

Title: Breaktime/Dance On My Grave
Author: Aidan Chambers
Genre: Teens
Publisher: Randomhouse (1978/1982)
Pages: Paperback, 133/246 (two books in one)
Language: English
Rating: 8/10

Dance On My Grave - Summary: During the summer of his 16th birthday, Hal takes out a friend's boat for a day's sailing. When he gets in trouble on the water he is rescued by 18 year old Barry Gorman. Their ensuing relationship brings Hal the intense emotions of his first teenage love.
Dance On My Grave was reviewed earlier in june 2008

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Breaktime - Summary: Can real life be captured in literature? Morgan argues what you read in books can never be a true account of experiences, because feelings have to be structured or embellished to be readable. Ditto decides to prove his friend wrong. He sets out to describe everything that happens to him in the next view weeks as honest and incoherent as it occurs. It's for Morgan and us to figure out if his story is real or a game with words after all.

Breaktime - Review
This story is told in different styles depending on the feelings Ditto wants to express. Sometimes it results in poetry, other times in a factual account of events as they unfold. It reminded me of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers; that book is also filled with fragmented thoughts in whatever style feels right for the occasion. But Breaktime is a work of fiction and AHWOSG is said to be an autobiography. Which from the start made me go with Ditto's point of view: I think it is possible to get pretty close to real life in literature. Whether or not Ditto's story is believable to you depends on how far you are willing to accept his adventures.
I felt he sometimes loses himself in form rather than substance, but if I remember correctly it's exactly how a teen brain sidetracks on occasion. In fact it is how my old mind still processes life; which is not usually neat and organized, but more than often scrambled and incomprehensible.
I liked the whirlwind of emotions and in the end I don't even care if it's all true; it was an interesting ride, just like life itself.