Fans will be delighted, the mildly curious exhausted.
A frenetic epistolary novel of friends weathering their freshman years of college.
Best friends Ava and Gen (thinly veiled fictionalized versions of YouTube comedy duo–turned-authors Dunn and Raskin) couldn’t be more different. Ava is a straight-laced, straight, white aspiring screenwriter who suffers from anxiety and comes from a loving family. Gen is a free-spirited, queer, white budding reporter who isn’t afraid to take risks and has largely absent parents. While Ava is at the University of Southern California and Gen is attending Emerson, they maintain their long-distance friendship through continual, hyperbolic emails and text messages. Ava rushes a sorority, writes and produces a short film, and loses her virginity, while Gen joins the newspaper staff, has an affair with a teaching assistant, and tries cocaine for the first time. There are rapid-fire accusations, misunderstandings, and apologies as each young woman tries to manage the consequences of her own actions while still supporting and responding to the actions of her friend. While the authors explore real issues here, including cutting, alcoholism, and gender identity, much of it is lost in the manic back-and-forth dialogue that seems more concerned with cracking jokes than plumbing depths. What might be funny in a 3-minute video quickly becomes wearying in a 300-page novel.
Fans will be delighted, the mildly curious exhausted. (Fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-12932-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 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
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