Heartfelt, if uneven.
Smith offers a collection of blackout poems honoring victims of anti-Black violence using text from George Saunders’ award-winning Lincoln in the Bardo (2017).
The poet shares in her introduction that as the mother of Black sons, when George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery were murdered, she “found the agony crushing” and “struggled to navigate it.” The poems utilize passages from Saunders’ experimental novel, which Smith was reading in May 2020, to reflect on the lives and deaths of Floyd, Arbery, Philando Castile, Rodney King, and others. Except for Aiyanna Jones, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor, the focus is on the killing of boys and men, although some poems speak from the perspectives of victims’ mothers. An entry from the point of view of Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, reads “I shall take away from here this resolve: / no more. // Dear boy, / That is a promise.” Another standout is “White Witnesses”: “Much that was New & Strange & / Unnerving had occurr’d this night. We / watched it all unfold from On-High: safe, separate, & Free- / the way we liked it.” Photos of murals and memorials honoring some victims are moving while providing necessary emotional space for readers. Other poems raise questions, as when the narrator of “Black Witness” says they were “still too under siege myself to care” about the identity of the victim of an overheard act of violence, or when Eric Garner is described as being rendered “a weak passive child.”
Heartfelt, if uneven. (author’s note, conversation between Smith and George Saunders) (Poetry. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-85436-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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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