Arthur MacDougal is shipped off to the Christian Science boarding school Spooner School for his senior year after being kicked out of Manhattan's most fashionable boys' school. At the boarding school - known for its liberal homework policy and experimental classes - he befriends Katrina Felt, the daughter of a famous actress, and throughout their last year of school they bond over drugs, alcohol, and family problems. But by the end of the year, Katrina is in a treatment center, Arthur doesn't seem to have actually changed much, and their friendship is over.
And I realize that's a very short summary, but I think I've pretty much relayed everything that happened in the book. It also takes place in the 1960's, so they are all hippies. There are brief mentions of the war in Vietnam, whenever one of the characters is rebelling against their self-interested parents.
I don't think I like how this book was handled. It seemed like there was a lot of potential in how the characters related to each other and their revolt against classism and capitalism, but in the end this became a book about children taking drugs, or at least that's all I got out of it. It was quite sad to see Katrina's life fall apart, and to see how futile Arthur's struggle to save her was. But ultimately, Arthur's personality was just too passive for me. He orbits Katrina and the only thing he really does by himself is try to talk to her and to get with Lenny, another student at the school who came off as a very slimy weasel to me and I have no idea what Arthur saw in him.
Maybe someone else would have loved this book, but I think I'm just so different from the characters that I had trouble understanding any of their actions or motivations.
Some other reviews you might like:
http://queerreader.com/?p=90
https://outinprintblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/the-hour-between-by-sebastian-stuart-alyson-books/
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