A family coming-of-age story of fierce females, at once broad and intimate in scope.
Pilar and Pili are two young women with a generation separating them and family secrets between them in this multigenerational family drama.
Pili lives in 1970s Laredo, on the Mexican border in South Texas. She has a flammable personality and routinely flouts the cultural expectations of femininity in her machismo-oriented Mexican American community. Pilar, her granddaughter and namesake, is a high schooler in contemporary Houston with a vivid imagination and dreams of making it as an actress. Yet Pilar struggles with her own self-worth, as she is regularly bullied for her weight. While Pili pushes for her sister to leave her emotionally abusive husband in the historical storyline, Pilar faces down her bullies and reveals herself to be both a talented actress and true friend in the present day. As the narrative perspective shifts between the dual protagonists, the revelations of family secrets demonstrate the inner strength of Pili, Pilar, and a long line of ambitious and feisty women before them. Intergenerational conflict and clashes in values also become a frequent theme in the novel. While the structure keeps the pace brisk, the intertwined stories explore the family’s history through the facets of sisterhood, motherhood, and friendship, creating a character study in family dynamics.
A family coming-of-age story of fierce females, at once broad and intimate in scope. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-55885-894-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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