Though overlong and occasionally repetitive, this book offers three-dimensional portraits of emotional journeys for young...
A new-adult coming-of-age story from debut author Sargam.
Sophie may only be 18, but between her responsibilities as a senior high schooler, a hotel employee, and a surrogate mother to her boyfriend Eric’s younger siblings, she has more on her plate than many adults. Her teachers, however, only see her as a hotheaded, disobedient, promiscuous girl who needs the supervision and strict discipline of Ms. Jennings, a teacher at school who agrees to take in the orphaned Sophie and get her back on track. Yet Sophie has been taking care of herself for so long that she balks at the idea of a curfew and restrictions on how often she can see Eric. Bitter about her own romantic past, Ms. Jennings so wholly disapproves of teenagers having sex that she initially forbids Sophie any time alone with Eric, despite the fact that eventually she, too, begins to feel attracted to Sophie’s cousin Darrell. As Ms. Jennings and Sophie slowly earn each other’s trust—Sophie eventually takes to calling Ms. Jennings “Ma”—both women begin to discover that compassion and self-forgiveness are key to emotional maturity. Author Sargam deftly navigates between realistic teenspeak and adult diction, often fleshing out her characters through dialogue: “It’s nice to get a straightforward answer,” Ms. Jennings says. “Okay, straightforward,” Sophie responds. “On a scale of one to ten, ten being how awkward and uncomfortable I feel right now, I’m at four thousand. Better?” While the sexual morality runs a bit prudish and the insistence upon supervision is a bit overbearing—Sophie and Eric are both of legal age—Sargam allows for personal growth in all her characters. While readers may tire of repetitious plot points—for example, Ma chastises Sophie for her “irresponsible” relationship, even though Ma has plenty of evidence that the relationship is more mature than she thinks—the result is still a sincere exploration of the connections between adults and teenagers.
Though overlong and occasionally repetitive, this book offers three-dimensional portraits of emotional journeys for young and old alike.Pub Date: June 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4834-2313-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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