An uneven though readable novel about making sense of family history beset by secrets and pain.
Kasten’s (The De-Conversion of Kit Lamb, 2010) latest novel centers on a middle-aged clinical psychologist who returns home after her father’s death and her mother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
Leaving California—where she built a life counseling patients, participating in local politics, and meeting friends for drinks and dancing—Davida Grayson moves back to her hometown of Still Water, Kan., to sew up her parents’ loose ends. There she discovers that her recently deceased, emotionally abusive father, who owned a profitable hardware store, and her mother, who now lives in a nursing home, have a dark secret that haunts Davida throughout the novel. Davida’s high school boyfriend resurfaces, bringing with him disturbing memories of a cruel joke he played on her. When Davida meets him during a chance encounter, their freighted conversation makes her believe that he has begun stalking her. These events, coupled with the harrows of visiting her increasingly addled mother, force Davida to question her own perceptions of reality—an emotional disorientation she tries to palliate with alcohol. Despite all this, Davida still offers long-distance therapy to three clients whose anxieties and ailments conveniently align with her own struggles. Davida decides to perform a bit of psychoanalysis on herself, dredging up the events of her childhood to figure out why her grip on reality has been slipping and why her judgment of her parents may be too unforgiving. At times vivid and evocative, the story is overburdened by lengthy jags of exposition, conveniences of plot and an ethos usually found in pop psychology. These flaws serve to detract from the otherwise riveting mystery at the novel’s core. Told in limpid, at times maudlin prose, the narrative often feels like a memoir; Davida occasionally stumbles into a position of omniscience, making it difficult for readers to suspend disbelief. Thankfully, the plot’s serpentine twists will propel readers through to the satisfying end.
An uneven though readable novel about making sense of family history beset by secrets and pain.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-0983195917
Page Count: 374
Publisher: Islet
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
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