A riveting and meaningful coming-of-age story.
When 16-year-old Phoenix Lam is invited to attend a student-led protest, it’s mostly curiosity that compels her to go.
Even though Phoenix has lived in Hong Kong since her family moved back from the U.S. 6 years ago, she’s never felt like she truly belongs. The protesters’ outcry against an extradition bill that would intensify the Chinese government’s pressure on political activists sparks something within Phoenix, and she decides to join them and document the protests through photography. An accidental phone swap introduces her to 17-year-old Kai Zhang, a recent returnee to Hong Kong from Shanghai who is grieving his mother’s recent death. Kai expresses interest in attending protest organizing meetings with Phoenix but doesn’t reveal that he’s a police academy trainee and the son of a police inspector. Despite their differences—naïve, well-meaning Phoenix comes from a wealthy family, while Kai lives with bitter awareness of his poverty—attraction grows between them. The story is narrated by both Phoenix and Kai, and they take readers into the thick of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. Well-developed characterization saves their romance from falling into star-crossed-lovers cliché. Instead, the teens’ relationship highlights questions about class and national identity alongside overarching themes of freedom, duty, and accountability. The prose is lyrical and evocative, describing the characters’ emotional turmoil and the brutal clashes between protesters and police with equal deftness.
A riveting and meaningful coming-of-age story. (author’s note, further reading and viewing) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9780316396820
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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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