This novel is, well…lost in translation.
Readers will likely have difficulty connecting with this clunky translation of German author Röder’s story about a young city girl who moves to the country with her family and quickly finds herself wrapped up in an otherworldly mystery when she befriends the two boys next door.
Told from the three alternating perspectives of Mia, Alex and Jay, the novel follows the teens as their friendships grow and secrets from their pasts are revealed. The heart of the story centers around Alex and Jay’s mother, who mysteriously disappeared when the boys were young, leaving them to be raised by a strict Catholic grandmother. While Alex clings to the pictures that come once a year on his birthday, Jay seeks comfort in Alina, who lives by the river and fiercely demands his complete and undivided loyalty. When Mia threatens to become a distraction, Alina will stop at nothing to keep Jay all to herself. Unfortunately, Röder’s efforts to create a real sense of mystery or credible, likable characters are thwarted by clunky dialogue and a narrative that feels both forced and foreign. This is not a translation that helps readers lose themselves in the story, as it never feels authentic.
This novel is, well…lost in translation. (Fiction. 13 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62324-010-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scarlet Voyage/Enslow
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
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
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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