An absorbing, lyrically drawn mystery, examination of grief, and cautionary tale.
Seeking understanding about the circumstances surrounding her sister’s death, Sorrow returns home for the first time since the tragedy eight years earlier.
Following her 16-year-old sister’s death and her mother’s breakdown, 8-year-old Sorrow began living with her father in Florida. Now, realizing that she has forgotten many details surrounding the fire her sister died in, the white teen demands to return to the family apple orchard in Vermont. Started by a female relative 12 generations ago, both the orchard and the strongly matriarchal family structure have endured the ravages of hard times and loss—much of which is exacerbated by their longtime feud with the neighboring Abrams family. Flashbacks capture the feud’s beginning as well as unflinching scenes highlighting the terrible ways both families have escalated the conflict. Sorrow’s interactions with the Abrams sisters signal that the animosity continues in the youngest generation. But spending time in the gorgeously mystical orchard begins reviving Sorrow’s memories, raising questions about the feud and the fire. Sorrow’s quietly fierce determination to break through the family’s silent secrets exposes the grievances that tie the families together as much as they hold them apart. The novel is Sorrow’s story of loss, the story of a family feud, and occasionally an exposé on how small-town traditions perhaps unwittingly encourage a bubbling animosity to continue for generations.
An absorbing, lyrically drawn mystery, examination of grief, and cautionary tale. (Fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-236623-8
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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