Instead, these are real teenagers who unleash their adolescent anxieties and triumphs. At the brink of adulthood, they face some of the toughest decisions and harshest realizations of their lives during the 1999-2000 school year at a suburban Chicago high school. The kids aren't actors. The situations aren't contrived. The programs are not scripted.
Cameras roll, and the ensuing drama is riveting and real.
The novel, which involves suspense and a mystery, focuses on the search for spiritual authenticity. Doctorow, a prolific writer, was made famous by his 1975 novel Ragtime, which went on to become a Broadway play as well as a film. Unknown to most, Doctorow began his early career by reading scripts for Columbia Pictures. Their shallow content inspired him to begin more serious fiction writing. He is most famous for interweaving real historical figures into his complex fictional stories.