Ultimately though, a book whose title references Kerouac but lacks outrageous escapades may have difficulty finding its...
Quiet contemplation reigns when recent high school graduate Paul uses a road-trip search for Jack Kerouac as a possible escape from the pressures of 1964 suburbia.
Paul is increasingly disillusioned with his night shift at the mill and his girlfriend’s belief that their engagement is imminent. Breaking free from the yoke of expectations is difficult, especially in the wake of his mother’s recent death. Paul’s admiration for Kerouac’s On the Road sparks an unexpected friendship with fellow overnight-shift employee Duke, whose adventurous nature contrasts with Paul’s reluctance to rock the boat. Indeed, it’s Duke’s idea to run away to Florida to find Kerouac. Readers expecting a wild adventure story will find themselves disappointed. Paul’s cautious approach to travel helps the pair avoid excitement, and his reserved narrative style strips even a romantic interlude with a Weeki Wachee mermaid impersonator of any salaciousness. The pair’s experiences in Florida seem to further emphasize the dangers of impulsivity, as both Duke and Kerouac are revealed to have unstable lives that largely revolve around alcohol-fueled binges. But while Paul lacks a certain vivaciousness, his growing understanding of his role in the world is revealed through moments of self-awareness that are almost painfully unvarnished and at times also starkly beautiful.
Ultimately though, a book whose title references Kerouac but lacks outrageous escapades may have difficulty finding its audience. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-938126-47-5
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Lacewing/Engine
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
Haunting.
Similar to Sedgwick’s Printz Award–winning Midwinterblood (2013), four stories relate in elusive ways.
Sedgwick calls these stories “quarters” and encourages readers to experience them in any order. If read in the printed order, they begin with the dawn of time in a story that uses spare verse to describe a cave-dwelling girl who awakens to the world through the spiral shapes she sees as she gathers magic for her people. The second story skips to pre-Enlightenment England and the heartbreaking story of Anna, who is accused of witchcraft after taking up her mother’s “cunning woman” mantle. The fictitious journal entries of a Dr. James follow as this early-20th-century psychiatrist forms an unusual relationship with an asylum patient and leaves readers wondering who the true threat to society is. The quartet concludes with a science-fiction thriller in which Sentinel Keir Bowman, awake only 12 hours every 10 years, journeys on a spaceship scouting for new life. What openly draws these stories together is a spiral and spinning symbolism that presents itself through vivid details, from the seemingly mundane to literary references. Individually they conform to conventions; together they defy expectations as they raise questions about humanity and its connections to the universe and one another. Although Sedgwick gives a nod to teens, this complex masterpiece is for sophisticated readers of any age.
Haunting. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62672-125-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
One part nihilist political commentary, one part grimly modernist retelling, for readers willing to see Jesus in a...
A sneaky beggar child enters the circle of Yeshua of Gilgal in the six days surrounding the crucifixion.
Flea is a filthy, ignorant street child in the Holy City, the most bullied and ostracized member of a gang calling itself the Temple Boys. The new magician riding into the city on a donkey is just one more excuse for the rest of the Temple Boys to abuse and abandon Flea, but the magician's best friend, Jude, enlists Flea for a mission of his own. Jude wants to protect his friend and prevent the anti-Roman, anti-Temple political movement from turning into a bloodbath, but Flea only wants food, warmth and a little respect. Though he admires Yeshua's sleight of hand and cunning, Flea doesn't understand why Yesh seems sanguine about his own potential death. Readers with knowledge of the Gospels will catch the many sideways references and thinly disguised names: Yesh's brother is named Yak; Shim denies Yesh; Yesh buries old Laz alive; Jude reminisces about that time they "smuggled the booze into that boring wedding...in a water jug." These readers need to be prepared to read about Jesus as a lying con man who's a master of confidence games and is willing to use children as human shields. The ideal reader of this existentialist retelling is likely substantially older than naïve-if-bitter young Flea.
One part nihilist political commentary, one part grimly modernist retelling, for readers willing to see Jesus in a distinctly unholy light . (Historical fiction. 15 & up)Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62672-036-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
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