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
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
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