Superpowers, by David J. Schwartz

Review by Catherine Cheek

In Superpowers, David J. Schwartz takes the fantasy of “what would I do if I had superpowers” and extrapolates it. In the summer of 2001, five college juniors wake up and discover they each have an unusual ability: flight, speed, invisibility, strength, or telepathy. Caroline, Jack, Harriet, Mary Beth and Charlie have to gain control over their new powers, decide how to hide them and who to confide in, and decide what responsibilities they have now that they are superheroes.

The strength of this novel is in its characterization. With five main characters, it would have been easy for each of them to be little more than a name and a power. I expected to have to use the short bio printed on the back of the book quite often to keep track. But Schwartz develops his characters deftly, and only a few chapters in, they felt like real people.

One thing that sets this novel apart from others in the genre is that the super powers have genuine disadvantages. Superman doesn’t accidentally break his girlfriend’s bones, and Spiderman doesn’t gain the life expectancy of a spider, but the All-Stars find that their powers can be disabilities. One of Charlie’s first actions as a superhero is to make a helmet so that he can cut out some of the thoughts he can’t help hearing. It backfires, and he goes nearly insane when he reads his own mind. Mary Beth tries to control her strength, but she still manages to hurt people. Harriet sometimes can’t turn visible again, and Jack has to eat all the time because he runs so fast.

The superheroes try to hide their new powers, but since they’re roommates they discover each other fairly quickly. Invisible Harriet spies on Caroline and sees her flying. Charlie hears Harriet’s thoughts while she’s invisible, Mary Beth accidentally breaks door handles, and someone spies Jack racing out the door.

The All-Stars, as they come to be called (after Caroline makes them uniforms with stars on the helmets) decide that with their superpowers, they have the responsibility to help society. Soon, the police begin getting reports of heroes righting wrongs all over Madison. But even superheroes aren’t perfect, and it’s only a matter of time before they make mistakes. Before their identities are discovered. Before they accidentally kill people.

The day and date heads each chapter, but it wasn’t until nearly halfway through the book that I noted the significance. The September 11th terrorist attacks profoundly affect the characters. In another superhero book, the characters would have known what was going to happen and stopped it somehow–a fantasy that I’m sure most of us have had—but because the All-Stars are humanly fallible, they are as blindsided as the rest of us.

Spoiler alert: this book does not end happily.

I imagine this is going to be the number one complaint about Superpowers. Superhero novels are supposed to be funny and cheerful; super powers are supposed to solve ordinary problems and extraordinary problems alike. However, when problems are real and nuanced, sometimes there’s no solution, as Schwarts illustrates so well. Normally I feel resentful when an author doesn’t allow characters a happy ending, but in this case, the outcomes were foreshadowed enough that the bittersweet resolutions felt natural. I began the book wishing I had superpowers too, and ended it grateful to be a normal human.