A frank, engrossing examination of the ways society complicates young women’s burgeoning sexuality.
A 16-year-old girl grapples with being objectified by men.
Sydney Reilly had a standout school year with her friends in Seattle; the thought of leaving for a summer in San Francisco with her famous mother, Lila, instills dread. She has a deep sense that “it” is about to happen—she isn’t sure exactly what, but something large that will change everything. At her mother’s ocean-view home, she’s alone with Lila and her new boyfriend, Jake Antonetti, a real estate agent–turned–art dealer. By turns needy and unavailable, Lila can seem more like the child than the parent. Syd hides out from Jake and Lila’s fights, wandering nearby beaches, where she meets and is immediately drawn to Nicco Ricci. Her desire for him feels all-consuming, and their relationship immediately triggers Jake, who views her virginity as something he must protect. Between Jake, the leering construction worker next door, and creeps in the city, Syd faces a barrage of unwanted male attention. Lists of courtroom exhibits prefacing each chapter provide clues to the climax. Syd thoughtfully processes her burgeoning sexuality and the ugliness that it breeds in men, tracing its effects back to her mother’s own experiences. Though the affluent backdrop provides little diversity, Syd’s story outlines important, uncomfortable experiences many girls face without either flinching or offering a picture-perfect ending. All major characters are White.
A frank, engrossing examination of the ways society complicates young women’s burgeoning sexuality. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2697-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bulky, balky, talky.
In an updated quest for the Holy Grail, the narrative pace remains stuck in slo-mo.
But is the Grail, in fact, holy? Turns out that’s a matter of perspective. If you’re a member of that most secret of clandestine societies, the Priory of Sion, you think yes. But if your heart belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, the Grail is more than just unholy, it’s downright subversive and terrifying. At least, so the story goes in this latest of Brown’s exhaustively researched, underimagined treatise-thrillers (Deception Point, 2001, etc.). When Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon—in Paris to deliver a lecture—has his sleep interrupted at two a.m., it’s to discover that the police suspect he’s a murderer, the victim none other than Jacques Saumière, esteemed curator of the Louvre. The evidence against Langdon could hardly be sketchier, but the cops feel huge pressure to make an arrest. And besides, they don’t particularly like Americans. Aided by the murdered man’s granddaughter, Langdon flees the flics to trudge the Grail-path along with pretty, persuasive Sophie, who’s driven by her own need to find answers. The game now afoot amounts to a scavenger hunt for the scholarly, clues supplied by the late curator, whose intent was to enlighten Sophie and bedevil her enemies. It’s not all that easy to identify these enemies. Are they emissaries from the Vatican, bent on foiling the Grail-seekers? From Opus Dei, the wayward, deeply conservative Catholic offshoot bent on foiling everybody? Or any one of a number of freelancers bent on a multifaceted array of private agendas? For that matter, what exactly is the Priory of Sion? What does it have to do with Leonardo? With Mary Magdalene? With (gulp) Walt Disney? By the time Sophie and Langdon reach home base, everything—well, at least more than enough—has been revealed.
Bulky, balky, talky.Pub Date: March 18, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50420-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003
A well-crafted, fantastical thriller.
Thirteen guests. Two imposters. Two directives. Three days. One murder.
When a mysterious woman approaches high schoolers Ruby and Wren while they’re working at Ye Olde Falafel Shoppe at the local Renaissance festival, her offer seems too good to be true. Wannabe starlet Wren is thrilled by the intrigue, but sober Ruby is cautious. Their task seems simple: impersonate the woman’s absent granddaughters at a dinner party at the infamous Hegemony Manor in exchange for $2,000 each. But events quickly spiral out of control when the Hegemony family matriarch collapses and the girls are thrown into a game that involves fighting for their lives in a world where nothing is as it seems and secrets and lies abound. This novel offers a compelling take on the classic locked-room mystery. The plot unfolds at a measured pace, and well-developed clues and red herrings keep readers guessing until the very end. Moments of levity and tenderness balance out scenes of high emotional tensions and darkness, and Henning’s command of figurative and situationally informal language is masterful. Although the characters feel a bit flat at times—their innermost thoughts and motivations occasionally obscured by the narrative—and the romances sometimes feel like an afterthought, it’s easy to become invested in their struggles as they come together to unravel the web of truths and lies. Ruby and Wren are cued white; there’s some racial diversity in the supporting cast.
A well-crafted, fantastical thriller. (Supernatural thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781250841063
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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