Broadly appealing and free of the melodrama often associated with half-this, half-that issue books.
Schisms abound in the life of a half-black, white-passing, Jewish teen in New York City.
Since her parents separated, 15-year-old Nevaeh and her mother, who is deeply depressed, have lived in Harlem with her mother’s family, headed by her Baptist pastor grandfather. Not to be pushed out, her religiously unobservant father has set Nevaeh up with a rabbi to prepare for a slightly belated bat mitzvah. But rather than help Nevaeh feel more connected to her Jewish heritage, having to study Torah with elementary schoolers just adds to the disjointedness in her life. Her black cousins think she doesn’t understand their struggles, and wealthy kids at her fancy school treat her with derision. Her best friend, Stevie, is the one person who gets her, but when she starts dating Jesus, a neighborhood boy (his name’s pronounced the Spanish way—and there is not enough angst or Jewish humor paid to that irony), and spending more time pursuing a new passion, poetry, tensions arise. Sophomore year is fraught for Nevaeh, and for the most part debut author Díaz wields it smoothly, save for one forced plot device in the form of her mother’s old diary. In Díaz’ skillful hands, the many aspects of Nevaeh's intersectional identity are woven together so that they are, as in real life, inextricable from each other.
Broadly appealing and free of the melodrama often associated with half-this, half-that issue books. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-57823-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Heavily meditative, this strange and heart-wrenching tale is stunningly original.
An estranged family’s tragic story is incrementally revealed in this deeply surreal novel.
Alternating narration among five teens, many of them unnamed but for monikers like The Freak, The Shoveler, and CanIHelpYou?, as well as an older married couple, Gottfried and Marla, and the younger of two violent and troubling brothers, an expansive net is cast. An unwieldy list of the cast featured in each part melds well with the frenetic style of this experimental work but does little to actually clarify how they fit together; the first half, at least, is markedly confusing. However, readers able to relax into the chaos will be richly rewarded as the strands eventually weave together. The bitingly sardonic voice of The Freak, who seems to be able to move through space and time, contrasts well with the understated, almost deadpan observations of The Shoveler, and the quiet decency of Malcolm and the angry snark of CanIHelpYou?, who is falling for her biracial (half white, half black) best friend, are distinctly different from Loretta’s odd and sexually frank musings. Family abuse and neglect and disordered substance use are part of the lives of many of the characters here, but it’s made clear that, at the root, this white family has been poisoned by virulent racism.
Heavily meditative, this strange and heart-wrenching tale is stunningly original. (Fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-101-99491-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
A gripping portrait of fractured sisterhood, reverberating traumas, and the triumphs of omniscient ancestors.
A biracial high school student questions the truth surrounding her sister’s disappearance and unexplained return.
Sixteen-year-old Cassandra “Casey” Cureton despises her older sister, Sutton. The girls have a White mom and Black dad, and unlike her sister, Casey keeps her hair natural. She prefers the company of best friend Ruth, who is Black, and her online music fandom community. Dedicated cheer captain, flat-iron enthusiast, and rising senior Sutton is a mean girl with a convincingly sweet public persona. When Sutton goes missing on their last day of classes, their parents rally their affluent suburban Seattle-area community to band together and bring Sutton home. Weeks later, she is found physically unharmed but unable to remember anything. While her parents adjust to Sutton’s bittersweet homecoming, Casey realizes there’s something deeply unnerving about the sister who has returned—and it has nothing to do with her amnesia. As Casey races to unmask Sutton’s secrets, she discovers how her paternal family legacy protected Sutton, shedding new light on the powerful bonds of blood. Debut author Meade offers an intriguing, emotionally resonant novel wrapped in supernatural realism. Guided by layered themes of generational inheritance, Black identity, and the reclamation of history, the first-person narrative is told through Casey’s point of view with flashbacks from Sutton. Twists abound, but readers may crave a fuller ending than the action-packed but quick resolution.
A gripping portrait of fractured sisterhood, reverberating traumas, and the triumphs of omniscient ancestors. (author’s note) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9781728264479
Page Count: 338
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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