A strong debut written with heart and strength.
A multigenerational coming-of-age story centered around an immigrant community during the Great Depression.
The novel begins in 1933 with Mary, 16, living in a small apartment in Detroit, Michigan, with her Greek father and French mother; twin sister, Marguerite; and three younger brothers. Her father, a shop owner struggling now that no one is buying Ford motorcars, wants to arrange her marriage to a fellow immigrant, but Mary longs for modernity, a job, and some fun with dashing, blond Billy. She finds a mysterious pile of unaddressed letters dated 1918, which leads to two other stories—that of Gio, a young Greek fisherman who, through complicated circumstances, ends up enlisted in the U.S. Army, and Jeanne, a wealthy French girl who volunteers with wounded soldiers at a hospital in Brittany. Eventually the strands come together to reveal the identities of Jeanne and Gio. At times, the plot seems too convoluted—Marguerite, Mary’s twin, never feels necessary at all—and the cryptic nature of the letters makes them feel inauthentic. However, the author’s sense of history brings details of the different times and cultures to life as she tells a story inspired by her family’s history. Her free verse serves the tale well, with lines such as “Death walks the halls / naked, / without pride, asking for his mother,” to convey the youth and despair of injured young men.
A strong debut written with heart and strength. (author’s note, photographs, endnotes) (Verse novel. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5248-6560-3
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
This astonishing book will generate much-needed discussion.
After 15-year-old Will sees his older brother, Shawn, gunned down on the streets, he sets out to do the expected: the rules dictate no crying, no snitching, and revenge.
Though the African-American teen has never held one, Will leaves his apartment with his brother’s gun tucked in his waistband. As he travels down on the elevator, the door opens on certain floors, and Will is confronted with a different figure from his past, each a victim of gun violence, each important in his life. They also force Will to face the questions he has about his plan. As each “ghost” speaks, Will realizes how much of his own story has been unknown to him and how intricately woven they are. Told in free-verse poems, this is a raw, powerful, and emotional depiction of urban violence. The structure of the novel heightens the tension, as each stop of the elevator brings a new challenge until the narrative arrives at its taut, ambiguous ending. There is considerable symbolism, including the 15 bullets in the gun and the way the elevator rules parallel street rules. Reynolds masterfully weaves in textured glimpses of the supporting characters. Throughout, readers get a vivid picture of Will and the people in his life, all trying to cope with the circumstances of their environment while expressing the love, uncertainty, and hope that all humans share.
This astonishing book will generate much-needed discussion. (Verse fiction. 12-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3825-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.
In this YA graphic novel, an alienated Métis girl learns about her people’s Canadian history.
Métis teenager Echo Desjardins finds herself living in a home away from her mother, attending a new school, and feeling completely lonely as a result. She daydreams in class and wanders the halls listening to a playlist of her mother’s old CDs. At home, she shuts herself up in her room. But when her history teacher begins to lecture about the Pemmican Wars of early 1800s Saskatchewan, Echo finds herself swept back to that time. She sees the Métis people following the bison with their mobile hunting camp, turning the animals’ meat into pemmican, which they sell to the Northwest Company in order to buy supplies for the winter. Echo meets a young girl named Marie, who introduces Echo to the rhythms of Métis life. She finally understands what her Métis heritage actually means. But the joys are short-lived, as conflicts between the Métis and their rivals in the Hudson Bay Company come to a bloody head. The tragic history of her people will help explain the difficulties of the Métis in Echo’s own time, including those of her mother and the teen herself. Accompanied by dazzling art by Henderson (A Blanket of Butterflies, 2017, etc.) and colorist Yaciuk (Fire Starters, 2016, etc.), this tale is a brilliant bit of time travel. Readers are swept back to 19th-century Saskatchewan as fully as Echo herself. Vermette’s (The Break, 2017, etc.) dialogue is sparse, offering a mostly visual, deeply contemplative juxtaposition of the present and the past. Echo’s eventual encounter with her mother (whose fate has been kept from readers up to that point) offers a powerful moment of connection that is both unexpected and affecting. “Are you…proud to be Métis?” Echo asks her, forcing her mother to admit, sheepishly: “I don’t really know much about it.” With this series opener, the author provides a bit more insight into what that means.
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.Pub Date: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-55379-678-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HighWater Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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