Girls who are waiting for further news of Amy and Laura will be happy to find that Mama is able to come home from the hospital after a year's stay. Amy, lively and pragmatic, rushes to the wheelchair to tell Mama all about her problems. Laura, however, is appalled by the heavy woman with gray in her hair and a clumsy steel brace: this is not the Mama she had pictured for so long. And Mama seems to have changed inside, too. When Laura, a conscientious monitor, reports Amy for laughing and talking on the stairs, Mama condemns her for disgracing HER OWN SISTER and rejects the principle involved. For the first time in her life, Laura knows that Mama is wrong. Warned not to upset Mama by controversy, she begins to withdraw from the family. Only when the two girls erupt in a slapping and scratching battle does Mama realize the wall they have built around her and she begins to assume her former place in family affairs. Laura accepts Amy's newly-discovered smartness, which rivals her own, and finds out that she is becoming as attractive in her own way as Amy. Individual incidents are the happy heart of the story: Amy torn between naming sweet, steadfast Rosa or mercurial, daring Cynthia as her Best Friend; Laura struggling to stay on a bike and her elation when she succeeds. This does not have the structural unity of Laura's Luck, but girls who have identified with Amy and Laura in their earlier ups-and-downs will not be disappointed. Amy and Laura remain individuals struggling to reconcile their identity with the inward and outward pressures of growing up. Contemporary, lively, questioning—a superior serial.
Pub Date: Nov. 4, 1966
ISBN: 0595175929
Page Count: 172
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1966
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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