Overall, a compelling and genuine coming-of-age story.
Chinese American teens contend with the unpredictability of life.
Seventeen-year-old Serene Li has always admired her mother for moving from Beijing to the U.S. by herself while pregnant and achieving success as a single parent and trailblazing fashion designer. When her mother is diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer, Serene suddenly faces a future alone—unless she can find her father. Serene’s classmate Lian Chen also feels desperate. At school, he endures microaggressions from students and teachers; at home, he faces intense parental pressure to test into a competitive engineering program at MIT. Lian’s true passion is stand-up, but he knows his parents would never allow him to pursue such an uncertain career. When his college admissions counselor advises him to demonstrate leadership skills, Lian starts a Chinese club at school, counting on his classmates’ apathy to leave him with time and space to practice his comedy. He doesn’t anticipate popular, pretty Serene showing up to learn Chinese—or their gradual bonding over shared experiences, including being the only Asian American kids in their affluent, White Southern California town. The novel’s strength lies in its thoughtful, nuanced depictions of the teens’ complicated relationships with their immigrant parents, which deftly incorporates overarching themes of prejudice, assimilation, and heritage-seeking. Unfortunately, clunky wording in romantic scenes and a rushed, too-tidy conclusion that belies the book’s skill in portraying life’s complexity, unfairness, and unpredictability detract from the otherwise emotionally immersive story.
Overall, a compelling and genuine coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-294110-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
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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