Although Pajalić bravely deals with some serious adolescent issues, the book lacks an original angle on teen drama.
In Pajalić’s high school YA drama, a Bosnian girl in Australia attends a new school where she tries to befriend the sister she didn’t know she had.
Alma Omerović experiences the “most traumatic day” of her 15 years of life—she learns that her father, Esad, had a daughter no one in the family knew about (including Esad himself). In an effort to get to know this daughter, Sabiha, Esad moves the family from Hobart to Melbourne and enrolls Alma in the same school as his estranged daughter. Sabiha grew up under the assumption that Esad had abandoned her and her mother, and she spurns his affections as well as Alma’s attempts to establish a sibling bond with her. Alma slowly makes some headway into Sabiha’s group of friends—they call themselves the “Sassy Saints,” a coinage typical of author Pajalić’s thoroughly predictable montage of adolescent tropes. Alma laments her lonely experience as the outsider: “Every day was like walking underwater and fighting to get to the surface for a breath. There were currents and undertows and I constantly wished that I’d been able to stay in my old school and avoid the drama.” Meanwhile, Alma begins a romantic relationship with older student Alex Payne, a smooth talker with a “sparkling smile” who is either a sweet boyfriend or an exploitive scoundrel. The author hits all the big issues of adolescent life—religious bigotry and racism, sexual identity, the perils of sexting, and the pressure to cross the threshold from virginity into sexual maturity. It’s hard to ignore the feeling of a checklist being diligently completed here. Yet the author does perceptively capture the sneaking suspicion among teens that their adult superiors are monstrously hypocritical, a revelation encountered as a betrayal. Still, much of the book is a rehash of familiar themes, lacking freshness and vivacity.
Although Pajalić bravely deals with some serious adolescent issues, the book lacks an original angle on teen drama.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2022
ISBN: 9781922871176
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Pishukin Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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