A stunning intergenerational coming-of-age story.
A textured novel that uncovers secrets spanning three generations of an Iranian family.
It’s 2019. Seventeen-year-old Moud Jafarzadeh is removing all traces of gayness from his social media before he leaves Los Angeles for Tehran. He’ll be visiting Iran with his dad, Saeed, to spend time with Baba, his terminally ill grandfather. As they’re visiting a country where gay people are confronted with violence or worse, this trip is a source of conflict between Moud and Shane, his White boyfriend. The perspective then shifts to that of 18-year-old Saeed Jafarzadeh in 1978, during the Iranian revolution. He’s going to a student protest, a risky activity he conceals from his parents. It’s there Saeed meets and starts to fall for beautiful Shirin, a fellow protester. The novel then flashes back to 1939. In Los Angeles, 17-year-old Babak “Bobby” Jafarzadeh, Moud’s grandfather, desperately wants to tell Vicente, his Mexican American best friend, that he loves him. Today was supposed to be the day—until Mother picked Bobby up from school and whisked him away for a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer screen test, his ticket to becoming a movie star and fulfilling her own disappointed dreams. The Jafarzadeh men’s narratives alternate, intriguingly unveiling family secrets. Nazemian expertly bridges the past and the present, exploring racism, homophobia, and relations between the United States and Iran along the way. His elegant prose propels this historically resonant and culturally nuanced family drama.
A stunning intergenerational coming-of-age story. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9780063039377
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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