Jessica Berger Gross delivers a debut novel that captures the electric feeling of finding your voice at exactly the moment when using it might destroy everything familiar. Hazel Says No follows the Blum family’s relocation from Brooklyn’s embrace to Maine’s isolation, where their tight-knit world fractures after an incident that reshapes not only their lives but an entire community’s understanding of power, truth, and the price of speaking up.
The story centers on eighteen-year-old Hazel Blum, whose family has traded the rhythms of urban life for the supposed tranquility of Riverburg, Maine, where her father Gus has landed a prestigious professorship at the local college. What begins as a fish-out-of-water narrative quickly transforms into something far more complex when Principal Richard White calls Hazel into his office on the first day of senior year and propositions her, claiming he “picks one girl every year” for a sexual relationship.
The Art of Multiple Perspectives: Family Under Fire
Berger Gross structures her narrative through rotating perspectives among the four Blum family members, a technique that serves both the story’s emotional depth and its exploration of how trauma ripples through relationships. Each character’s voice feels distinct and authentic—from Hazel’s sharp, contemporary observations to her mother Claire’s anxious perfectionism, her father Gus’s academic pretensions, and eleven-year-old Wolf’s retreat into libertarian philosophy and online communities.
This multi-perspective approach allows the author to examine how a single incident can simultaneously unite and fracture a family. When Hazel reports White’s harassment, the consequences extend far beyond her own experience. Gus faces professional backlash after showing a clip from “The Cosby Show” in his American Studies class, Claire grapples with her own childhood trauma while trying to protect her daughter, and Wolf becomes radicalized by online communities that promise control in a world where he feels powerless.
The novel’s exploration of antisemitism adds another layer of complexity. After Hazel speaks out, the family receives threatening notes containing slurs, and someone spray-paints a swastika on their front door. Berger Gross handles these incidents with careful attention to their psychological impact while avoiding sensationalism.
Contemporary Issues Through Lived Experience
Where Hazel Says No particularly succeeds is in its treatment of #MeToo-era dynamics without falling into the trap of thesis-driven storytelling. The novel explores how survivors are simultaneously believed and disbelieved, supported and vilified, often by the same community members. When other victims from White’s past come forward, the story gains momentum while examining how predators operate within systems designed to protect them.
Berger Gross demonstrates particular skill in depicting the way social media and traditional media intersect in modern scandals. Hazel’s essay about her experience goes viral, leading to book deals and media attention that both empower and overwhelm her. The author captures the peculiar contemporary phenomenon of trauma becoming currency in the attention economy, and Hazel’s ultimate decision to reject a lucrative book deal feels both surprising and earned.
The novel’s treatment of cancel culture feels nuanced rather than politically predetermined. Gus’s professional difficulties stem from genuine pedagogical blindness rather than malicious intent, yet the consequences feel proportional to his failure to read the room. The students who organize against him aren’t portrayed as villains but as young people exercising newfound power.
Writing Style: Fresh Voice with Minor Growing Pains
Berger Gross, whose previous work includes the memoir Estranged: Leaving Family and Finding Home, brings her understanding of family dynamics and emotional complexity to fiction with generally strong results. Her prose feels contemporary without straining for relevance, and she captures teenage speech patterns without resorting to cringe-worthy attempts at youth slang.
The author’s background in memoir occasionally shows through in moments where the narrative feels slightly too processed, too aware of its own themes. Some of the adults’ dialogue can feel overly constructed, particularly in scenes where characters articulate insights that feel more suited to therapy sessions than natural conversation. Additionally, certain plot points—particularly Wolf’s rapid descent into online radicalization—feel somewhat accelerated for narrative convenience.
However, these minor issues don’t significantly detract from the novel’s overall impact. Berger Gross has a keen eye for the specific details that make a place and time feel real: the chlorine-scented community pool where the family first integrates into Riverburg life, the academic pretensions of college town culture, the particular anxiety of being the new family in a small community.
Character Development: The Heart of the Story
Hazel emerges as a compelling protagonist whose growth feels organic rather than imposed. Her initial confidence gives way to vulnerability and then to a more complex understanding of her own agency. The novel avoids the temptation to make her either purely victim or purely hero, instead presenting a young woman grappling with the unexpected weight of her own choices.
The supporting characters, particularly Hazel’s parents, feel fully realized. Claire’s struggle with her own traumatic childhood while trying to support her daughter creates genuine emotional complexity. Gus’s academic bubble-dwelling and his genuine love for his family create an interesting tension that drives much of the novel’s humor and pathos.
Wolf’s storyline provides perhaps the novel’s most intriguing subplot. His journey from theater-loving kid to online libertarian offers a compelling examination of how young people seek community and ideology when traditional structures fail them. His relationship with his sister provides some of the novel’s most touching moments.
Literary Merit and Cultural Relevance
Hazel Says No joins a growing body of contemporary fiction that examines how individual trauma intersects with broader cultural movements. The novel shares DNA with works like Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You in its examination of how families navigate crisis, and with Curtis Sittenfeld’s Show Don’t Tell in its exploration of how private individuals become public figures.
The book’s treatment of small-town dynamics recalls Richard Russo’s empire State trilogy, though Berger Gross brings a more contemporary sensibility to the material. Her Maine setting feels authentic without resorting to folksy stereotypes, and she captures the particular isolation of academic families in small college towns.
Notable Strengths and Minor Weaknesses
The novel’s greatest strength lies in its emotional authenticity. Berger Gross never minimizes the real impact of harassment while also acknowledging the complex web of consequences that follow speaking truth to power. The family’s journey feels real rather than idealized, with victories that come at genuine cost.
The pacing occasionally falters in the middle sections, where the focus shifts too heavily toward media coverage and legal proceedings. Some readers may find the resolution slightly too neat, though the author earns her ending through careful character development throughout the novel.
The dialogue, while generally strong, sometimes struggles with the voices of secondary characters, particularly some of the Riverburg townspeople who can feel more like types than individuals.
A Strong Debut with Lasting Impact
Hazel Says No announces Jessica Berger Gross as a novelist worth watching. Her ability to weave together family drama, social commentary, and coming-of-age elements creates a novel that feels both timely and timeless. While the book tackles heavy themes, it never loses sight of its essential humanity or its faith in the possibility of growth and healing.
For readers who enjoyed the family dynamics in Little Fires Everywhere or the small-town politics of Big Little Lies, this novel offers similar pleasures with a distinctly contemporary voice. The book would particularly appeal to readers interested in stories about finding agency in difficult circumstances, the complexities of modern feminism, and the way individual courage can reshape communities.
Berger Gross has crafted a novel that respects both its characters and its readers, offering no easy answers while maintaining hope for the possibility of justice and healing. Hazel Says No marks the arrival of a voice capable of tackling difficult subject matter with both sensitivity and narrative skill.
Similar Reads for Further Exploration
Readers who connect with Hazel Says No might consider:
- Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane – for its exploration of family trauma and healing
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – for its examination of how communities respond to crisis
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng – for its multi-perspective family narrative
- Flashlight by Susan Choi – for its coming-of-age elements in an academic setting
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – for its small-town dynamics and social issues
Hazel Says No establishes Jessica Berger Gross as a significant new voice in contemporary literary fiction, one capable of transforming difficult personal experiences into art that speaks to broader human truths about courage, family, and the ongoing struggle for justice in an imperfect world.
