A bold, graphic tale about the costs of exclusion.
Teen lesbians fight for acceptance in a small town.
In her debut novel, award-winning poet Rebele-Henry (Autobiography of a Wound, 2018, etc.) gives the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice a modern twist, situating the timeless tale of forbidden heterosexual love in present-day rural Texas. The protagonists are best friends fated with the misfortune of being raised in a place where being gay is “considered more offensive than any other sin.” Growing up poor, scarred by a birth defect, and raised by her widowed grandmother, who’s always resented that her daughter left her with a 2-year-old, 16-year-old Raya’s “obsessing over staying invisible” is only compounded when she realizes she’s gay and that her attraction for her best friend, Sarah, a preacher’s daughter, is requited. After the true nature of their relationship is painfully made public, the teens’ conservative families send them away for religious conversion therapy designed to “cure” their gayness. At the remote, prisonlike facility, Raya and Sarah band with other banished queer youths as they are subjected to hard labor and horrifying, identity-erasing treatments. Once desperate for acceptance of their sexual orientation, Raya and company now find themselves fighting for their lives. What the plot-propelled narrative lacks in thematic nuance it makes up for with probing character development, offering readers harrowing lessons in self-reliance. Characters default to white.
A bold, graphic tale about the costs of exclusion. (index of characters) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64129-074-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Soho Teen
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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