Girls will cry and boys will find love, lust, loss and longing in Alaska’s vanilla-and-cigarettes scent.
The Alaska of the title is a maddening, fascinating, vivid girl seen through the eyes of Pudge (Miles only to his parents), who meets Alaska at boarding school in Alabama.
Pudge is a skinny (“irony” says his roommate, the Colonel, of the nickname) thoughtful kid who collects and memorizes famous people’s last words. The Colonel, Takumi, Alaska and a Romanian girl named Lara are an utterly real gaggle of young persons, full of false starts, school pranks, moments of genuine exhilaration in learning and rather too many cigarettes and cheap bottles of wine. Their engine and center is Alaska, given to moodiness and crying jags but also full of spirit and energy, owner of a roomful of books she says she’s going to spend her life reading. Her center is a woeful family tragedy, and when Alaska herself is lost, her friends find their own ways out of the labyrinth, in part by pulling a last, hilarious school prank in her name. What sings and soars in this gorgeously told tale is Green’s mastery of language and the sweet, rough edges of Pudge’s voice.
Girls will cry and boys will find love, lust, loss and longing in Alaska’s vanilla-and-cigarettes scent. (Fiction. YA)Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-525-47506-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
A clear-eyed exploration about exposing hidden injustice that falls short in characterization.
Four high schoolers in small-town Colorado grapple with secrets and corruption.
Theo Robinson is a kindhearted student reporter, Kelsey Fink is a popular perfectionist, Payton Davis is a troubled loner, and Eden Randall was an artistic outcast. In their first-person points of view, which move forward and backward in time, they share their experiences connected to the fire that burned down their school and killed Eden. When the teens’ worlds collide, they create a plan to inform the world of the secret traumas they and their classmates have endured. After the fire, Theo, who’s trans and was one of Eden’s best friends, begins investigating alongside Payton. Payton and Eden were in love, and they’d wanted to leave their abusive home lives for a fresh start, a dream cut short by Eden’s death. Meanwhile, the students’ unity splinters as they hide information and disagree about what to disclose. Nijkamp’s latest is a topical assessment of the ways power and prestige can enable and cover up violence. Unfortunately, the narrators’ voices blend together, and the dialogue lacks personality, with characters speaking in cliches and indulging in exposition. Complexity and specificity are often sacrificed in favor of messaging. The twists and turns keep the story moving at a solid pace, but the mystery feels undercooked. Main characters read white, and there’s racial diversity in the supporting cast.
A clear-eyed exploration about exposing hidden injustice that falls short in characterization. (content note) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: July 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781728291208
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
Love blooms in this well-developed Sapphic high-fantasy adventure.
Seventeen-year-old Ofelia de Bouchillon longs for the gilded halls of Le Château Enchanté, a palace blessed by the gods and filled with glamorous courtiers who enjoy endless parties.
Unfortunately, Ofelia’s mother, Mirabelle, has long denied her wishes. The pair live in a rundown manor, protected by a hired group of sworn knights who include Ofelia’s best friend, Lope. The knights and the wall surrounding the manor are the only things keeping them safe from the deadly Shadows that plague their world. Once only seen during “the darkest part of the night,” the vaporous beings are now appearing during daylight hours to claim their victims’ lives. Lope vows to protect Ofelia from the Shadows with her life. But when Ofelia’s mother disappears, the young women journey to Le Château to search for her. There they believe they’re finally free from the Shadows, but despite the apparent safety of the palace, with its lavish, extravagant fêtes, Lope is convinced that the king is hiding a dark secret. Unfortunately, Ofelia doesn’t notice anything amiss, and even her growing love for Lope cannot make her see the truth. While Ofelia’s choices can be frustrating, this stand-alone fantasy set in a world that evokes early modern Spain and France is original and a quick and enjoyable read despite its length. The will-they, won’t-they romance told in alternating points of view is delightful, especially since queer romances are nothing taboo in this universe.
Love blooms in this well-developed Sapphic high-fantasy adventure. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063359086
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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