Fails to do justice to the complexity of the subject matter.
Muzna Saleem is a North London teen who struggles with low self-esteem.
The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, she considers herself ugly and is taunted by peers. Muzna dreams of being a novelist, but she feels obliged to fulfill her money-strapped parents’ desire for her to become a doctor. When Muzna’s best friend is caught with a boyfriend, her parents force her to sever their ties to avoid shame by association. After her family moves for a new job, a friendless Muzna looks to reinvent herself, taking hormone pills to regulate her facial hair. She is instantly attracted to Arif, a hunky, brooding fellow Muslim student who is surprisingly kind to her. This leads to a romance with a twist: Arif’s older brother appears to be sympathetic to violent extremism. Muzna is portrayed as a naïve victim of her own self-loathing and insecurities who is lured into a dangerous situation. Despite Muzna’s first-person narration, readers might struggle to understand her internal thought processes or believe the degree of her awareness of others’ attempts to influence her thoughts and actions. Secondary characters represent the diversity of the British Muslim population, such as a Nigerian British classmate, a service-oriented hijabi medical student, and Muzna’s own traditional yet anti-hijab parents, but they are insufficiently fleshed out given the delicacy and ambition of the central premise, and a theatrical ending does not redeem the overall lack of nuance.
Fails to do justice to the complexity of the subject matter. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5098-7405-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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
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