A compelling study of messy friendships and romantic relationships, and their long-lasting effects.
Friendship, romance, and rivalry entangle two Indian American boys and an Anglo-Irish girl in Gupta’s novel.
Yash Varna moves with his father from Toronto to Pittsburgh to start college after his mother dies. New to the area and living away from campus, Yash quickly befriends Jay Ahuja, a fellow Indian and pre-med student from the Pittsburgh suburbs. Despite surface similarities, Jay and Yashu couldn’t be less alike: Whereas Yash is shy, Jay is confident and outgoing, and while Yash is nervous around girls, Jay is a ladies’ man. The narrative explores how these two interact, particularly in the context of their various overlapping relationships with women. There’s Rachel, Yash’s first girlfriend in college, a childhood friend of Jay who may or may not have also dated Jay in the past. Then, there’s Darby Baccus, an Anglo-Irish girl from Reading, Pennsylvania, devoted to her family, especially her autistic brother, Hunter; Yash sees her one day and is awestruck, but they formally meet later while both he and Jay are coupled up. Tension builds as both Jay and Yash appear interested in Darby, and the novel adopts a will-they-won’t-they formula crossed with a modern take on Jules et Jim, eventually following all three out of college as they advance in their lives and careers. While Gupta’s prose can be overwrought (such as in the line, “my calves cramping up with lactic acid, begging for respite”) and redundant, the author is able to capture moments of genuine intimacy. The breakup scene between Rachel and Yash stands out as an understated but genuinely sweet, captivating moment of emotional honesty. This emotional grounding holds through to the novel’s conclusion, leading to a satisfying, if devastating, coda.
A compelling study of messy friendships and romantic relationships, and their long-lasting effects.Pub Date: June 26, 2023
ISBN: 978-1777230289
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Rexington Press
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
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
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