A thoughtful, sensitively drawn examination of bullying, revenge, and personal responsibility.
In Andrefski’s (The Girlfriend Request, 2016, etc.) novel, a bullied teen at an elite private school plots revenge against her tormentors during recruitment week for a secret society.
The last day of school at Trinity Junior Academy is a day of celebration for Samantha Evans. She’s excited about beginning high school in the fall with her best friends, Jessica and Jeremy. That same day, though, everything changes when her father is arrested for insider trading. Compounding the shock is the discovery that he’s having an affair with Jessica’s mother. Eventually, her father is convicted and both couples divorce. Samantha is sent to live with her Aunt Loretta and attends high school at Trinity Academy, where Jessica begins tormenting her. When Samantha discovers graffiti mocking her father’s imprisonment, she feels that the time has come to exact revenge on Jessica and her friends, and the selection process for the school’s secretive Musterian Society provides the perfect opportunity. After Samantha hacks into the society’s website, she sends invitations to three unsuspecting classmates along with details of various tasks they’ll need to complete during Rush Week. Her plan seems foolproof until the pranks take a dangerous turn and she wonders if her desire for vengeance is worth risking her classmates’ safety or her friendship with Jeremy. Andrefski’s exploration of the ramifications of bullying is compelling and includes a well-developed storyline with a strong heroine. Samantha is an intelligent student who balances her school responsibilities with serious family turmoil, including her aunt’s dementia; she also attempts to reconcile with Jessica to no avail and faces daily reminders of her father’s crimes and affair. The scenes of bullying are brief but effectively convey Samantha’s emotional trauma and establish her motivation for revenge. Her scheme unfolds like an intricately plotted thriller, with the pace quickening as her plans start to unravel. Andrefski also skillfully weaves several effective subplots into the main narrative, including Samantha’s relationship with a mysterious older teen named Ransom.
A thoughtful, sensitively drawn examination of bullying, revenge, and personal responsibility.Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63375-318-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
“On the basis of their own words” Dudevszky wrote first-person accounts of the sad ordeals of several teenagers who are unable to reside with their families. There are reasons—often a list of reasons—the teenagers no longer live at home, and none of them are good. Marco’s father molested his sisters, Brenda’s parents were addicted to alcohol and drugs, Manuela’s father beat her, and Leyla had to escape from Iran for political reasons. The message that trumpets through is how desperately these youngsters, most living in foster or group homes in the Netherlands, need attention and affection. Jerry, a youth home resident, says, “I don’t get homesick at all. I don’t see my parents that much. They don’t come on my birthday. Well, so they don’t. I’m not going to lose sleep over it.” Maarten, 16, who was moved six times in four years, says, “I often felt lonely. Every time you go to another place you’re all on your own again.” Although the book is worthy, the tone is understandably depressing, and after a while the individual stories lose their bite. Readers who have the pertinacity to get through it will root for Asena and her “number-one wish,” which is “to become happy.” (Nonfiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 15, 1999
ISBN: 1-886910-40-5
Page Count: 125
Publisher: Lemniscaat/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
A tale of forbidden love with intentional references to Shakespeare’s play, perhaps especially to its West Side Story incarnation, with a similar focus on issues of race and gangs. Julio Montague, a recent Texas transplant to Cincinnati, quickly falls for “Afroqueen” during cyber-chats on the Internet. He soon discovers his soulmate is African-American Romiette Cappelle, who coincidentally attends his high school. The two are destined to meet and fall in love, despite warnings from the local gang who strongly disapproves of their romance. After the two central players ignore several warnings, gun-wielding gang leaders kidnap them, bind them, and cast them adrift in a boat that is struck by lightning, nearly drowning them (and straining credibility). The parallels to Shakespeare’s play are often self-conscious and belabored, drawn at odd moments in the story. Still, a straightforward, uncluttered narrative will hook readers into the well-paced plot and sympathetic characters; loose ends are tied more neatly than a package, prettying up the ending by putting a happily-ever-after spin on the lovers’ fates. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-82180-8
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
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