Accessible and engaging, full of honest feeling.
A bullied, bulimic teen searches for self-love through kickboxing and romance.
Adrian tries to stay under the radar at his Canadian high school, dealing with his feelings by secretly binge-eating at home. But when the school bully torments him after a gym class weigh-in, Adrian decides to get fit. He begins kickboxing and meets an ambitious girl named Melody who is attracted to him. However, Adrian is convinced that he won’t deserve Mel’s love until he loses weight. He begins purging, which costs him happiness, energy, and the ability to pursue the activities and relationships that have finally made him feel worthy. By the end, Adrian opens up to Mel about his eating disorder and confronts the bully, but the true climax comes when he reckons with his self-perception. Adrian’s bulimia is sensitively addressed, but a rigid low-carb diet is portrayed as a healthier alternative, possibly triggering readers who struggle with balanced eating. A line indicating that it’s wrong to mock those trying to lose weight misses the point that it’s wrong regardless. Both Adrian and Melody are biracial, and they bond over both pride in their backgrounds and the prejudices they face (Adrian’s parents are both half black and half white, while Melody’s are white and Indian). The bully is white. Adrian is a highly sympathetic protagonist, showing sensitivity and emotional maturity that would outshine that of many adults.
Accessible and engaging, full of honest feeling. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4595-0548-3
Page Count: 202
Publisher: James Lorimer
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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