A vibrant coming-of-age novel.
In Waite’s YA novel, a teen embarks on a chaotic search for a piano teacher.
In 1970s Massachusetts, 16-year-old Jezebel Berke wants out of her family. Her older sister, fresh out of high school, will be gone for the summer. Her mother is a drinker prone to mood swings, and her quick-tempered father recently did something to make Jez incredibly uncomfortable. The family will be at their beach house on the South Shore for the summer, but Jez hopes to sneak back to Boston to hang out in music clubs, do drugs, and hopefully find someone to teach her to play jazz piano. As the summer progresses, Jez begins collecting an assortment of characters to help her on her quest: Quinn, a handsome harmonica player who introduces her to his circle of Berklee musicians; John, a philosophical Harvard student who chats with her about morality; and Arjuna, a Hare Krishna who calls her a seeker of truth. She also has her socialist grandmother, Bubbie, to provide unconditional love. However, Jez’s truth-seeking leads her into progressively more dangerous situations, and if she survives the summer, she will eventually have to confront the family problems that are gnawing at her. The author imbues Jezebel (whose unusual name comes from her mother’s revisionist understanding of the biblical queen as a defender of the downtrodden) with plenty of angst and attitude. She skillfully evokes a nostalgia-tinged 1970s New England summer (even if some of the signifiers feel a bit on the nose): “Back in her Mom’s caddy, we sang along with Bob Dylan on the radio…Boston was summertime hopping and we drove past people hanging on their stoops with music blasting from boom boxes. On a busy corner a group of women faced the street and held signs that said, ‘Our right to decide’ and ‘Impeach Nixon!’ ” It’s a compelling mixture of messiness, sincerity, and irreverence, capturing someone halfway between what they’ve always been and what they want to become.
A vibrant coming-of-age novel.Pub Date: July 1, 2023
ISBN: 9798218191900
Page Count: 217
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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