An offbeat tear-jerker with a sense of humor and a call to action.
Stewart’s latest YA novel follows a dying teenager as he navigates his final days during his senior year at an elite private boarding school.
As the new school year begins, everyone keeps asking Tremendous “Tremmy” Sinclair what he did over the summer. It turns out that during the school break, he was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, went through chemotherapy, and broke up with his girlfriend via text. His parents want to pay for expensive experimental and alternative treatments, but he’s given up on the possibility of “miracles.” They offer to take him on a trip around the world during his last months of life, but Tremmy just wants to go to school, be with his friends, and try to “die well”—although he’s not yet sure what the latter would entail. Initially, Tremmy, who’s wealthy and White, doesn’t think about his privilege, but when his best friend, Jenkins, shoots a crossbow in the direction of a party crasher, he starts to question everything he’s ever known. The young man has surprising misadventures and gets into all sorts of juvenile (and not-so-juvenile) trouble with a new group of rebellious pals. Stewart’s rendition of high school life is so honest and realistic, and his characters so complex, that readers are sure to see aspects of themselves in these pages. The book offers a unique, well-paced, and darkly comedic coming-of-age story with a sometimes-unlikable narrator at its center. Along the way, Stewart even explores the option of assisted suicide for people with terminal illnesses with no chance of survival. Indeed, there’s no shying away from themes of death in this story; Tremmy even has a habit of writing obituaries for everyone he knows. In this way, the book asks an intriguing question: Is thinking about one’s mortality unhealthy and morbid––or just a part of becoming an adult?
An offbeat tear-jerker with a sense of humor and a call to action.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 261
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 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
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