A harrowing, if roughly constructed debut, based on the experiences of the author's grandfather; this tale of a student with a learning disability who is driven into a nervous breakdown is set in the early years of this century, when treatment of insanity was still firmly fixed in the Dark Ages. Although Matthew studies to the point of exhaustion, he is frustrated by an inability to understand or retain what he reads; when his failing marks get him expelled from the college in which he's enrolled, he breaks down, withdrawing into catatonia. He is committed to a private asylum, where a horrific program of abuse and neglect drives him even further into himself. Rescued at last by his older brother Zack, who takes him to a ranch in Colorado, Matthew finally embarks on the road to physical and mental health. Sharply defined are Matthew's rage and frustration at the beginning, and his painful, tentative steps toward recovery at the end are sharply defined; in between, readers get only glimpses of his interior state, perhaps because Seago switches points of view among several characters, sometimes rapidly. Matthew's mother and others are introduced with plot-stopping digressions, and the story loses focus with the development of a romance between Zack and a young woman. Still, Matthew's character is well-realized enough to make his retreat into mental illness seem plausible, given the pressures placed on him—and his experience in the asylum is positively nightmarish. Uneven but often engrossing. (Fiction. 11-15)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-8037-2230-3
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1997
A 17-year-old has a shallow religious epiphany followed by an equally shallow retreat from religion and political awakening. In the old days, Mia repeatedly assures us, she only wanted "to get high, make music and have sex." Now she's studying at a Jerusalem yeshiva; hoping for a spiritual reawakening, Mia has blindly decided she'll find it in Orthodox Judaism. Unfortunately, she connects neither with her classmates nor their religious or political beliefs. The more she learns about the ugly creation of Israel's national myth of a previously empty land being made green, the more barren she finds Orthodox Judaism. Her political self-education gets tangled up with her conviction that she is "sick of wearing ugly clothes," her disinterest in yeshiva studies and her lust for Andrew, the sexy guitar bum she meets in the streets of Jerusalem. The issues are vitally important, but the heroine's facile acceptance of a hot boy's pacifism is hardly convincing, the straw-man yeshiva students diminish the painful political realities and Mia just isn't likable enough to carry the tale. (Fiction. 12-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55469-265-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although reality shows and religion don’t usually mix, this text blends both well and serves up Addy as a believable and...
This light teenage romance with a reality-show twist is entertaining and forgivably predictable.
Getting good grades and into an Ivy League college are 17-year-old Addy’s two goals in life. So when her principal taps her to represent her school on the new reality TV show The Book of Love, Addy isn’t thrilled, despite the show’s prize of a date to the prom with Jonathon Jackson, the son of the president of the United States. Looking to be sent home quickly, unlike the other 99 girls, Addy doesn’t fawn over the First Son and instead chooses to just be herself, which, to her dismay, endears her to viewers and prolongs her stay. Addy’s positive attention attracts some serious nastiness from her competitors and the show’s director, Hank, which convinces Addy that her purpose on the show is to really share her faith. Relying on Christianity, Addy musters the courage to persevere, just like her deceased missionary parents, who are referenced throughout. Short transcripts of interviews with the show's participants are sprinkled between chapters, underscoring the vapid nature of the other girls.
Although reality shows and religion don’t usually mix, this text blends both well and serves up Addy as a believable and endearing heroine. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4016-8488-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
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