An uneven debut, but Parsons shows real promise with Jason’s characterization.
A down-on-his-luck teen is made an offer he can't refuse.
Jason and his sister, Janie, are stuck with their abusive, alcoholic father in the worst part of town. The pair scrimp and save anything they can and dream of one day having enough cash to strike out on their own. So when high school it boy Michael drives up in his vintage Mustang and offers Jason $50 a day to hang out with him, Jason has little reason to turn him down. The results of this arrangement prove to be less than advantageous. The author weaves a web of lies and deceit around Jason, so much so that readers will barely know whom to trust less, Michael or the enigmatic and impossibly sexy Cyndra. As Jason tries to figure out who's playing what and for whom, readers get a look at a fully formed but terribly damaged individual. Less interesting are most of the other characters, all drawn with broad strokes. This makes the novel a bit repetitive in the middle, when Jason gets into a cycle of brooding, then trusting a bit, and then brooding again once new information comes to light several times over. The novel's ending is also far too "happily ever after" considering all the angst that came before, making for a jarring tonal experience.
An uneven debut, but Parsons shows real promise with Jason’s characterization. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-399-16847-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quiet, lovely story with a satisfyingly sentimental ending.
A thoughtful teen reconnects with her nature-loving father on Cape Cod.
Fourteen year-old Clare is less than thrilled with her mother’s plan to have her spend three weeks on a remote island with her father, Richard: She hasn’t seen him in twelve years, and they only speak on Christmas. Vera and her third husband are jetting off to honeymoon in France, though, so Blackfish Island, ho! Richard isn’t much of a conversationalist, but his diffident silence lets Clare come to appreciate, in her own time, her father and his work preserving the nests and habitat of the endangered Northern diamondback terrapin. Gradually, through walks on the beach, kayaking around the bay and board games, the two find their way toward an honest and loving relationship. Some obnoxious neighbors, walking clichés whose every move embodies thoughtless entitlement and ignorance of the island’s natural rhythms, are the one weak spot here. Demas’ careful seeding of details about Richard’s life in the years between his divorce from Vera and his re-emergence in Clare’s life is subtle enough that the revelation of what held him back from maintaining any substantive relationship with her will be surprising and ring true to most readers. Their father-daughter bond feels both earned and earnest.
A quiet, lovely story with a satisfyingly sentimental ending. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: March 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1328-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
An unusual tale that’s undermined by a shallow main character with a too-healthy dose of self-appreciation
This entry in the series called Seven, like the others, deals with a grandson and a journey.
Adam, 16, has been given an unusual mission by his deceased grandfather, a larger-than-life patriarch who seemed disdainful of the boy’s only average qualities. His assignment is to go to France and attempt to find the family that once sheltered his grandfather from the Nazis after he was shot down during World War II. Hidden in their barn was a painting of immense value that David intended to steal. If Adam succeeds at this odd mission, two more, each more difficult than the last, will follow. Adam is intrigued and imagines that achieving these strange goals will make him more attractive to class goddess Vanessa, a guilt-tinged desire as he already has a perfectly nice, very loyal girlfriend. Adam’s earnest self-focus, effectively depicted in his first-person narration, may have been created to remind readers of his need for growth, but it quickly becomes tedious. The missions he’s assigned are amusing and suspenseful, but sadly, he only begins to acquire insight into the real force behind his grandfather’s plan near the conclusion, far too little and too late to imply that he’s learned much from the experience.
An unusual tale that’s undermined by a shallow main character with a too-healthy dose of self-appreciation . (map and family tree, not seen) (Adventure. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55469-935-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
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