A teenager narrates his confusing emotions in this second installment of a coming-of-age series.
Picking up right where the first volume, Why Can’t Life Be Like Pizza? (2014), left off, Roamer continues the story of Arvydas “RV” Aleksandravičius, who has just finished his freshman year at a high school in Boston. RV had been looking forward to spending the summer with his good friends Bobby Marshall and Carole Higginbottom—especially Bobby, as the two shared their burgeoning gay feelings and a first kiss at the close of the preceding novel. Those plans quickly go out the window. Carole gets the opportunity to spend the summer in Paris, and Bobby is being torn between football and arguing about his future with his father. To make matters worse, RV feels that things are off when Bobby does make time for him. RV also discovers that his younger brother, Ray, may be getting in over his head with the wrong crowd. As the teen’s parents stress over their upcoming citizenship exams to become official Americans and the gas station where Bobby works comes under fire from local gangs, it seems the only safe place RV can go is Joe’s, his favorite pizza shop. There, his trustworthy mentor Mr. Aniso is ready with slices and advice. RV maintains the charm and wit that made him a lovable narrator in the first installment. This second chapter expands further into the heavier themes floating beneath the surface of the protagonist’s life, namely, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and the decline of the American dream. (RV’s father’s hesitancy to become a United States citizen and his inability to articulate clearly why he left Lithuania deliver a fresh, intriguing take on contemporary first-generation American life.) But many plot points, such as surprising violence at the gas station and Bobby’s reluctance to come out, never reach a satisfying conclusion. Still, the stage is effectively set for the next volume.
While it doesn’t quite stand on its own, this sequel deftly develops the appealing characters.Pub Date: May 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64890-021-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Ninestar Press, LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gut-wrenching look at how addiction affects a family and a town.
Emory Ward, 16, has long been invisible. Everyone in the town of Mill Haven knows her as the rich girl; her workaholic parents see her as their good child. Then Emory and her 17-year-old brother, Joey, are in a car accident in which a girl dies. Joey wasn’t driving, but he had nearly overdosed on heroin. When Joey returns from rehab, his parents make Emory his keeper and try to corral his addictions with a punitive list of rules. Emory rebels in secret, stealing small items and hooking up with hot neighbor Gage, but her drama class and the friends she gradually begins to be honest with help her reach her own truth. Glasgow, who has personal experience with substance abuse, bases this story on the classic play Our Town but with a twist: The characters learn to see and reach out to each other. The cast members, especially Emory and Joey, are exceptionally well drawn in both their struggles and their joys. Joey’s addiction is horrifying and dark, but it doesn’t define who he is. The portrayal of small-town life and its interconnectedness also rings true. Emory’s family is White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast, and an important adult mentor is gay. Glasgow mentions in her author’s note that over 20 million Americans struggle with substance abuse; she includes resources for teens seeking help.
Necessary, important, honest, loving, and true. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-70804-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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PERSPECTIVES
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told.
32
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A devastating tale of greed and secrets springs from the summer that tore Cady’s life apart.
Cady Sinclair’s family uses its inherited wealth to ensure that each successive generation is blond, beautiful and powerful. Reunited each summer by the family patriarch on his private island, his three adult daughters and various grandchildren lead charmed, fairy-tale lives (an idea reinforced by the periodic inclusions of Cady’s reworkings of fairy tales to tell the Sinclair family story). But this is no sanitized, modern Disney fairy tale; this is Cinderella with her stepsisters’ slashed heels in bloody glass slippers. Cady’s fairy-tale retellings are dark, as is the personal tragedy that has led to her examination of the skeletons in the Sinclair castle’s closets; its rent turns out to be extracted in personal sacrifices. Brilliantly, Lockhart resists simply crucifying the Sinclairs, which might make the family’s foreshadowed tragedy predictable or even satisfying. Instead, she humanizes them (and their painful contradictions) by including nostalgic images that showcase the love shared among Cady, her two cousins closest in age, and Gat, the Heathcliff-esque figure she has always loved. Though increasingly disenchanted with the Sinclair legacy of self-absorption, the four believe family redemption is possible—if they have the courage to act. Their sincere hopes and foolish naïveté make the teens’ desperate, grand gesture all that much more tragic.
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-74126-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FAMILY | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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