About a girl

A young adult novel about grief, loss, and obsession, Jenny Manzer’s Save Me, Kurt Cobain (Delacorte Press, $17.99) has an enterprising hook: What if the God of Grunge were still alive, living off the grid and out of sight? Nico is 15 years old and has been living with abandonment since she was 4 and her mother took off. She’s trying to find answers and a box of her mother’s CDs leads Nico to think there’s some secret involved. When, on a ferry from Seattle to British Columbia and she sees a man with that familiar greasy blonde hair and ice blue eyes, she gets into his truck and goes on a quest for Cobain, who she believes might be her father. Grunge fans will delight; the book is full of references to the music and the times, even if the resolution of Nico’s quest is both quick and pat.