BROKEN CHINA

Only 14, China’s two-year-old daughter is the center of her universe. It’s hard to be a good mom, and yet China knows that she’s learning what it takes. However, all the care in the world can’t prevent Amina’s tragic death due to an undiagnosed heart problem. Unwilling to attend the funeral, China insists on an elaborate and expensive coffin. Once she’s committed to an impossible debt, she quits school to work at the counter of a raunchy strip club in her Houston neighborhood. It’s no mystery where the plot is headed and incredibly obvious that all the things China tells herself only bring her closer to disaster. A big plus is the realistic rendering of the dialogue in vibrant language without resorting to incessant swearing, yet the heavy telegraphing by the author of the discoveries ahead may make some readers impatient with the slowness of stubborn China to realize the truths abundantly evident around her. Those with a taste for gleams of sunshine in their grit will find this just the ticket. (Fiction. YA)