When you’re a self-conscious teenager and the world seems poised against you, what’s the most expedient way to become “cool?” Turn the heat on someone else, of course. Don’t stand out—join the crowd. In “The Year of 13,” Lisa Shimotakahara’s protagonist narrator does just that. It’s a two-step method, though, as we’ll discover.
Step one: Skin-deep transformation. Our 13-year-old protagonist narrator takes us through the process of medically-assisted acne reduction. “I inhaled each pill, swallowing faith… After two weeks, the cysts felt less cysty… Then smaller to smallest.” Within this process, Shimotakahara chose to compare these pills to caterpillars, “Go, caterpillar, go,” thus cueing the audience for a change of sorts. But do we see a dazzling butterfly emerge from this metamorphosis? Well, let’s consider step two: Find a scapegoat. “Andy with no pores was leaning against my locker. And he was talking. Talking about someone named George.”
What Shimotakahara does well in this piece is deliver the story in the raw, unfiltered voice of the protagonist herself. “When I was twelve I was cute. When I was thirteen I was ugly.” In this way, the audience is plopped directly in the scene and experiences the torment and triumph along with her. “And just like that, I was in. Inside the first ring. Inside the first ring of cool.” Does this mean, however, that the reader gains a sense of loyalty to the protagonist’s point of view? Or is does this technique build another layer of empathy by the tale’s conclusion? “When I was thirteen I was ugly.” Read it for yourself to decide.
Source: Shimotakahara, Lisa. “The Year of 13.” Literally Stories, 15 May 2023, https://literallystories2014.com/2023/05/15/the-year-of-13-by-lisa-shimotakahara/.
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