Overall, a tubular story for readers looking for their next great melodramatic love story.
In 1984, one bad trip will completely change the course of Hannah Zandana’s teenage life.
Cumiskey transports her readers back to the 1980s, viewed through the kaleidoscope of big, feathered hair and Swatch watches. The largely white setting and the plot are, like, totally out of a John Hughes movies. And though Cumiskey’s timeline is a little bogus—for example, Beetlejuice came out in 1988—readers should be able to ignore minor flubs as they meet her cast: mean girls Gillian, Leeza, and Taylor tease and fluster Hannah until she feels she needs to prove her cool by scoring some LSD from Deacon, the local heartthrob/rich boy/drug dealer. When Deacon saves Hannah from a bad trip, sparks fly between the bad boy and the quirky girl. While Hannah’s story would be radical in ’84, its strengths may also be its weaknesses. For example, Hannah’s confrontation with Gillian ends when Hannah drops a homophobic slur to silence the mean girl. While this was considered humorous at one time, modern readers may find it jarring for the heroine of a book to use emotional blackmail in order to avoid bullying. Also, the question hangs: will readers get the gnarly ’80s references? These quibbles aside, Hannah’s story is primo, and the surprise twist of the epilogue will have readers stoked with anticipation for a sequel.
Overall, a tubular story for readers looking for their next great melodramatic love story. (Historical fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63152-292-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Phantom of the Opera served as inspiration, but this wouldn’t last on Broadway.
Stephanie and her family move into an old mansion rumored to have been put under a curse after a turn-of-the-20th-century rich boy meddled with an Egyptian mummy.
After her young sister complains about strange events, high school student Stephanie befriends Lucas, a geeky, good-looking boy, and meets the other members of SPOoKy, the Scientific Paranormal Organization of Kentucky: Charlotte, Wes, and Patrick. Stephanie learns the history of her new home from Lucas, who attracts her romantic attention, but the usually levelheaded girl is soon drawn to Erik, the handsome phantom who first comes to her in dreams. The story is told in chapters narrated by Stephanie, Lucas, and Zedok, whose identity is initially a source of confusion to Stephanie. Zedok appears wearing different masks, “personified slivers” of his soul, representing states of mind such as Wrath, Madness, and Valor. Meanwhile, until gifted singer Stephanie came along and he could write songs for her, Erik’s dreams were thwarted; he wanted to be a composer but his family expected him to become a doctor. In the gothic horror tradition, Erik’s full background and connection with Zedok are slowly revealed. Romantic dream sequences are lush and swoon-y, but the long, drawn-out battle to end the curse, aided by a celebrity clairvoyant, is tedious, and the constant introduction of Erik’s different personae is confusing. Most characters default to White; Patrick is Black.
The Phantom of the Opera served as inspiration, but this wouldn’t last on Broadway. (Horror. 13-16)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11604-3
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Refreshing and moving: avoids easy answers and saviors from the outside.
From Sudan to Maine, in free verse.
It's 1999 in Juba, and the second Sudanese civil war is in full swing. Viola is a Bari girl, and she lives every day in fear of the government soldiers occupying her town. In brief free-verse chapters, Viola makes Juba real: the dusty soil, the memories of sweetened condensed milk, the afternoons Viola spends braiding her cousin's hair. But there is more to Juba than family and hunger; there are the soldiers, and the danger, and the horrifying interactions with soldiers that Viola doesn't describe but only lets the reader infer. As soon as possible, Viola's mother takes the family to Cairo and then to Portland, Maine—but they won't all make it. First one and then another family member is brought down by the devastating war and famine. After such a journey, the culture shock in Portland is unsurprisingly overwhelming. "Portland to New York: 234 miles, / New York to Cairo: 5,621 miles, / Cairo to Juba: 1,730 miles." Viola tries to become an American girl, with some help from her Sudanese friends, a nice American boy and the requisite excellent teacher. But her mother, like the rest of the Sudanese elders, wants to run her home as if she were back in Juba, and the inevitable conflict is heartbreaking.
Refreshing and moving: avoids easy answers and saviors from the outside. (historical note) (Fiction. 13-15)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7614-6267-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
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