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IT’S LOVE WE DON’T UNDERSTAND

An oblique Dutch import challenges readers with three glimpses into the workings of a monumentally unhappy family. The characters are the unnamed narrator, a teenage girl; her loving but tormented older brother Axel; their sisters; and their wickedly self-centered mother. Successive, vividly realized episodes focus the narrative lens in excruciating detail on this hapless group. In the first, set in a wheatfield, Axel confronts their mother about her boyfriend, who has been sexually abusing him; in the second, the family prepares for the arrival of an unknown man curiously willed to them, a man the children hope will be a new father; in the third, the narrator carries on an imaginary conversation with Axel, now moved out, as she and her sisters attempt to establish themselves as a family in both his absence and their mother’s—she’s disappeared with a new boyfriend. Moeyaert (Hornet’s Nest, 2000, etc.) is a master of atmosphere—the reader feels the staggering heat of the wheatfield and the increase in tension as the standoff between Axel and his mother intensifies—but it is his ability to crystallize his narrator’s immediate emotional state that rings most true. The reader feels her blinding rage at her mother’s neglect, her pathetic hope that the family can be a family, her resignation as she finally gives up on her mother. The narrator and Axel agree that it’s love they don’t understand, at least as exemplified by their mother, but by the end, it is clear that on their own, the children are working toward their own independent understanding of love. To say that the writing is elliptical is an understatement, and an air of the surreal hangs over the whole, dislocating both characters and reader. Not an easy work, nor a fun one, but eerily effective and powerful. (Fiction. YA)

Pub Date: June 15, 2002

ISBN: 1-886910-71-5

Page Count: 128

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002

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A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER

From the Good Girl's Guide to Murder series , Vol. 1

A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.

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Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.

Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.

A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019

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INDIVISIBLE

An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.

A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.

Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.

An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)

Pub Date: May 4, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021

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