Darcie, 16, seeks her father, Paul, and is befriended by handsome, intriguing Roman during a summer that climaxes with a startling tragedy. With Darcie's mother honeymooning in Europe, Darcie stays with Uncle George and Aunt May, helping out at their zoo restaurant. Taciturn and alcoholic, George is furious at Darcie's curiosity about Paul. Reluctantly, May tells Darcie that Paul was a local boy? a teen-ager as was her mother. Meanwhile, Darcie is fascinated by Roman, a warm, imaginative sealkeeper with a gift for communicating with animals, though his empathy with their captivity and grief when one of them dies border on bizarre. Darcie finds him her one comfort, although, at 28, he scrupulously tries to keep her at arm's length. Still, he helps her find Paul's father and provides solace as she pieces together her sad origins: George had bribed Paul to join the Army; Paul returned the money but went anyway, planning to return and marry Darcie's mother, but was killed. Darcie's feeling for Roman is so strong that she "would do anything for him"; their single kiss is yearningly sweet, but when his favorite seal is killed by a prankster, his ultimate request reveals his dangerous depths. Conrad's characters are so tautly drawn that readers should willingly suspend disbelief at the more melodramatic moments of her plot. The parallel threads of Darcie's quest and her gradual entwinement with Roman, in whose charming vitality a frightening flaw is implied from the beginning, should keep readers enthralled. Darcie's final escape from what has become an evil spell is heart-stopping.
Pub Date: April 1, 1987
ISBN: 0064471640
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1987
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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