CALYPSO'S ODYSSEY

A teenage girl’s summer is disrupted when a mysterious boy arrives.

Callie, who’s mostly of European descent, lives on Catalina Island, where she works at her family’s struggling inn with her father. He’s raised her alone since she lost her mother at 7. Now, in the summer after her senior year, Callie feels stuck. Her best friend, Mexican American Pita, is preparing to leave for college in Santa Cruz, and their relationship feels strained. After a brief and harmful romance with a boy who shared an intimate photo of her without her consent, Callie is shaken, and her father has become overly protective. The fallout from the incident affects her daily life and sense of safety. When a storm hits the island, Callie rescues a boy, Odie, whose boat has been wrecked. Odie, who’s Jewish and Mexican American, begs her not to tell anyone he’s there, and she agrees to hide him at the inn. As they spend more time together, she learns about his fraught relationship with his parents, and a bond forms between them. But when the truth about Odie’s identity comes to light, it threatens to separate them for good. This contemporary retelling of the story of Odysseus and Calypso is intriguing in its conception, but Callie’s inner world isn’t fully developed, and the ending feels rushed. Still, readers may appreciate the vivid and well-rendered setting of Catalina Island.

An inventive premise let down by uneven execution.