A love letter to the intricacies of family and multitudinous black girlhood.
Eighteen-year-old Tasia struggles with uncertainty around identity and family in Montgomery’s debut novel.
Tasia Lynn Quirk is certain she knows exactly who she is—the daughter of a loving, financially well-off family, a confident and successful black private school senior, a kick-ass, and the only girl on her high school’s football team. The arrival of a mysterious box makes her solid world fly apart when she discovers that her biological father is not the black man who raised her but a white man named Merrick. Reeling from the betrayal and violent shift in her identity, Taze impulsively seeks out Merrick and his family as she tries to navigate the new chaos of her life. Montgomery’s thoughtful craft is driven by immediacy and tension and grounded in emotional authenticity. The depth of 21st-century young adult complexity is effortlessly inscribed in Taze’s character, including the frustrations and exhilaration of football, the complicated intensity of a new romantic relationship with a bisexual boy, the negotiation of the intersecting tensions of racism, colorism, sexism, and classism, and the difficult path to family healing. The juxtaposition of Taze’s exploration of her black biracial identity alongside the unfettered diversity of identity and experiences among the supporting cast goes beyond refreshing all the way to restorative for readers weary of the search for intersectional mirrors.
A love letter to the intricacies of family and multitudinous black girlhood. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62414-595-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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