Takes on complex issues but doesn’t deliver with depth.
A struggling teenager finds herself abroad.
Eighteen-year-old Tally Gelmont and her twin brother, Max, are off to visit Israel for the first time, on a trip that is not Birthright but shares a lot of similarities with that common Jewish program. Max has been depressed ever since he survived a drunken driving accident; Tally, for her part, is still pretending like she’s unaffected by the incident even though she is dealing with chronic anxiety as well as burgeoning questions about her sexuality. Aside from the setting, this novel has a cookie-cutter vibe: Tally’s interest in musical theater feels tacked on rather than being a well-developed element of her character, and there’s a stereotypical Black new-best-friend character, Jewish Ethiopian American Saron, who exudes one-note Manic Pixie Dream Girl energy (and who calls her “Tally Mark” to the point of annoyance). The novel also includes plenty of earnest conversations between underdeveloped supporting characters during which they blandly discuss their identities (including the White Gelmont twins’ patrilineal Jewish heritage; their mother is Catholic). Tally’s process of discovering her demisexuality just before Jerusalem Pride makes for a very flat climax. The rest of the story is a cheerful "#IVEGOTCHUTZPAH" tour through Israel, occasionally acknowledging the existence of Palestinians, although despite a few moments when the characters comment that “the history is complicated,” the subject is not fully explored.
Takes on complex issues but doesn’t deliver with depth. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0709-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful, realistically messy emotional wallop that destigmatizes mental disorders.
Andy and Shelbi find love while navigating mental health challenges in suburban Georgia.
It all starts when 18-year-old Andy Criddle drunkenly texts the wrong number. The mistaken recipient ends up offering him emotional support and asks him not to drive drunk. Despite agreeing, he gets behind the wheel—and into an accident. After being charged with a DUI, Andy, the son of a congresswoman running for Senate, is barred from attending his graduation and shamed in the press. Meanwhile, 16-year-old AP physics student Shelbi Augustine, who finds car crashes interesting for scientific reasons, picks up Andy’s wallet at the scene of the wreck. She returns it to him in class and gives him a pep talk before nervously rushing away. The judge orders Andy to complete community service at a soup kitchen where Shelbi regularly volunteers, and when their paths cross again, she confesses that she was the person he was texting. As they grow closer, Shelbi, who has bipolar depression, has Andy sign a friendship agreement. Rule No. 6 reads, “Do not, under any circumstances, fall in love with Shelbi.” Naturally, this is a rule destined to be broken. The comfort and ease the two have are mirrored by Stone’s breezy writing. Her casual tone acts as a potent salve for the heart-wrenching scenes and the searing portrayal of healing. Most characters are Black; Andy’s dad is White, and Shelbi’s paternal grandmother is from India.
A thoughtful, realistically messy emotional wallop that destigmatizes mental disorders. (author’s note) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-30770-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
A deeply moving account of love in its many forms.
A senior contends with first love and heartache in this spectacular debut.
Sensitive, smart Frank Li is under a lot of pressure. His Korean immigrant parents have toiled ceaselessly, running a convenience store in a mostly black and Latinx Southern California neighborhood, for their children’s futures. Frank’s older sister fulfilled their parents’ dreams—making it to Harvard—but when she married a black man, she was disowned. So when Frank falls in love with a white classmate, he concocts a scheme with Joy, the daughter of Korean American family friends, who is secretly seeing a Chinese American boy: Frank and Joy pretend to fall for each other while secretly sneaking around with their real dates. Through rich and complex characterization that rings completely true, the story highlights divisions within the Korean immigrant community and between communities of color in the U.S., cultural rifts separating immigrant parents and American-born teens, and the impact on high school peers of society’s entrenched biases. Yoon’s light hand with dialogue and deft use of illustrative anecdotes produce a story that illuminates weighty issues by putting a compassionate human face on struggles both universal and particular to certain identities. Frank’s best friend is black and his white girlfriend’s parents are vocal liberals; Yoon’s unpacking of the complexity of the racial dynamics at play is impressive—and notably, the novel succeeds equally well as pure romance.
A deeply moving account of love in its many forms. (Fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-984812-20-9
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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