An earnest, overstuffed look at the collateral damage of suicide and drug abuse.
In the aftermath of her sister’s suicide, Allie’s grief is thick and relentless.
Allie adored her older sister, Leah. What with boyfriend troubles, their mom’s Xanax addiction, and their dad’s affair, the sisters had a pact that they would die together if things ever got too awful. Now, Allie is reeling from her sister’s solo fatal overdose, and she’s not coping well. The story reads like Go Ask Alice, as, page to page, Allie’s swigging NyQuil or swallowing yet another pill. She’s constantly drifting in a haze of queasy highs and nauseous lows. Frequent ghostly visitations from her dead sister seem to lead Allie ever deeper into drug use and further from reality. As Allie learns the many sordid secrets of her sister’s concealed life, she begins to understand the powerful influence her sister had on her and, a talented painter, struggles to find her own voice. Allie’s fraught inner monologues and hallucinated conversations with her sister succeed in illustrating Allie’s emotional struggle. As if her own struggles aren’t enough, Allie’s flat, present-tense narration recounts additional teen drama, such as friends’ squabbles and sexual dalliances, and much of the dialogue feels scripted: “Don’t push me away. I didn’t mean it. I don’t love her like—.”
An earnest, overstuffed look at the collateral damage of suicide and drug abuse. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4926-2097-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
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