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IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE

Nolan's first novel is ambitious indeed: she frames the story of teenage Chana's survival in the Lodz ghetto and Auschwitz with a second story, about a young neo-Nazi who—after a motorcycle accident from which her vicious boyfriend escapes unscathed—is in the intensive care unit where Chana is dying half a century later. Also near death, Hilary relives Chana's ordeal and eventually recovers to carry on Chana's role as Holocaust witness. There are some real strengths here: Chana's experiences—losing her family, one by one; escaping Lodz with her grandmother only to be jailed, tortured, identified as a Jew, and sent to the concentration camp; brutal conditions, desperate survival techniques, and alliances and betrayals among Jewish inmates; the degradation of playing the violin for the Nazis in order to survive—are evidently selected in order to depict a range of horrors; but they're also graphically and tellingly portrayed. Hilary is less convincing: her troubled past is too briefly sketched to make a firm basis for her almost sensationalized fanaticism, while her change of heart doesn't develop; it simply emerges full-blown. Still, juxtaposing the virulent paranoia of present-day skinheads with their forebears' atrocities is a bold basis for a novel; if some of the transitions here are a bit awkward, the book as a whole is deeply felt and often compelling. (Fiction. 12+)

Pub Date: March 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-15-238040-X

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1994

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INDIVISIBLE

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

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IF HE HAD BEEN WITH ME

There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.

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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

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