Thoughtful and provocative, if a tad overstuffed.
Flora, a “white, wealthy, and able-bodied” Manhattanite fashionista, hoped to win her tutor’s affections by attending the rural, Quaker-run boarding school that’s his alma mater during her junior year of high school.
Now, three years later, she uses archived documents including journal entries, emails, and press clippings so readers see “the story happen in just the way it happened, in all its urgency and all its absurdity.” She details her rocky adjustment to a school that includes all the expected stereotypes: gradeless classrooms, rustic accommodations, and vegan cafeteria options. Avoiding commentary on personal appearances, or “shell speak,” is especially difficult for Flora. And the sense that she’s merely playing a role leads to feelings of social isolation. But after her tutor “fucks and ducks” on Flora, the school’s artistic opportunities facilitate her examination of whether “baseless love, this love that doesn’t have to be earned” exists or whether even consensual sexual acts are transactional in nature. Fittingly, Flora doesn’t necessarily reach an answer, though her wryly inserted modern commentary on her younger self indicates that present-day Flora continues exploring ideas on appearance and social interactions. The core of Flora’s journey presents opportunities for readers to grapple with gender, sex, race, classism—even Marxism—although detailed explorations of all those complicated topics are too much for a single narrative.
Thoughtful and provocative, if a tad overstuffed. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-11976-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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