Bun O’Keefe will settle comfortably at home in readers’ hearts.
In 1986, a Newfoundland teen learns that family isn’t always the one you’re born into—sometimes it’s the one that takes you in.
Bun O’Keefe has grown up isolated in a run-down house with her mother, a 300-pound hoarder, who has deprived Bun of love, care, conversation, and education. When Bun’s mother tells her to get out, the literal-minded 14-year-old white girl goes to St. John’s, where she meets a close-knit group of disillusioned young adults. There’s Busker Boy, a Sheshatshiu Innu street performer; Big Eyes, a lapsed Catholic, white good girl who can’t bring herself to swear; Chef, a talented, white culinary student; and Cher/Chris, a white drag queen. The found family of four takes Bun in, feeds and clothes her, and teaches her what it means to be loved and supported. Although Bun is 14, she possesses the endearing naiveté and honesty of a child, but her first-person narration isn’t sappy or immature. She’s self-taught, courtesy of the many books and video tapes her mother has brought home, and her point of reference for the world is the 1978 documentary The Agony of Jimmy Quinlan, about an alcoholic on the streets of Montreal. Smith’s talent lies in deftly handling numerous heavy topics: suicide, sexual abuse, neglect, AIDS, homophobia, transphobia, and racism, without making them feel forced or gratuitous—they’re facts of life.
Bun O’Keefe will settle comfortably at home in readers’ hearts. (Historical fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-14-319865-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While some might find pleasure in the ironic tone of this novel, overall it’s trifling at best
A retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray set in a New England prep school.
There may not be many teens acquainted with Oscar Wilde’s classic novel, but there are plenty who are familiar with clichéd mean-girl books. At predominately white Chandler Academy, Heidi rules the social roost. When roommate Biz’s pimply cousin, Doreen Gray, transfers to Chandler, Heidi oversees her makeover. Biz’s touched-up photo on the school social media site makes Doreen look glamorous, and soon Doreen has traded places with the image. Under Heidi’s tutelage, Doreen surrounds herself with snobbish friends, collects designer bags, and tramples on boys’ hearts. There’s as much hedonism here as in Dorian Gray, but the plot focuses to a surprising extent on Heidi’s preoccupation with male approval as it wanders through the thematic territory of both Pygmalian and Heathers. According to malicious, blackmailing Heidi, it’s “important to be waited for, waited upon, but never to wait for anyone. It [makes] a woman seem desperate, like less of a prize.” The narrative is full of 19th-century language (“I cannot tolerate this inconstancy. Resolve yourself”) oddly juxtaposed with more pedestrian prose: “then Doreen would tell him, in no uncertain terms, to go fuck himself.”
While some might find pleasure in the ironic tone of this novel, overall it’s trifling at best . (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: June 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7624-5962-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Running Press Teens
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
A weak if well-meaning addition to a genre in need of strong books.
One night of horror leaves a lasting problem for 17-year-old Luna and her family.
Canadian Luna, who is of First Nations descent, is not in the habit of going to parties, but one night she promises her younger sister, Issy, to go along to one at the home of a privileged prep school boy. When she meets Jon, Luna is impressed by his friendliness. Unfortunately, the boy is not as nice as he seems. Jon rapes Luna once she's drugged enough that she can't resist. Luna keeps the assault a secret until her sister guesses that she's pregnant. Her family is supportive, but many of her peers react with racial slurs and bullying. The book tackles an important topic, but the characters do not become fully realized and instead come across as wooden. While Luna is portrayed as a smart girl who gets good grades, her lack of basic knowledge about pregnancy, such as weight gain, feels more like a glaring opportunity to provide an education for readers than an organic experience for the characters. In the same way, her mother's ignorance of rape culture feels like a manufactured chance for readers to learn about what can happen to victims.
A weak if well-meaning addition to a genre in need of strong books. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4594-0984-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: James Lorimer
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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