A beautifully honest depiction of a teenage boy’s difficult path to healing.
In Read’s (The Go Between, 2012, etc.) latest YA novel, a teenage boy struggles with his memories of childhood sexual abuse as he begins to navigate the world of dating.
High school sophomore Kyle Cook loves kicking field goals for his high school football team but beats himself up when his skills prove to be merely decent. His self-esteem has never been the same since he was sent five years ago to stay with his physically, sexually and emotionally abusive aunt while his mother recovered from a devastating car crash that killed his father. Kyle never breathed a word of his abuse to anyone, but it’s led to strange behaviors; for example, he assumes that it’s normal to hide in the bathroom and secretly watch his younger sister, high school freshman Shelly, shower after swim practice—until she catches him one day. When his mother sends him to see Mrs. Sabia, a tiny elderly counselor, he’s surprised that he’s so comfortable with her and opens up about his feelings for the first time. As he begins to hold himself accountable for his own actions and heal his relationship with Shelly, she sets him up on his very first date with her friend Jessica. However, as Kyle and Jessica’s relationship develops and they begin experimenting with sex, his memories of his past trauma threaten to destroy his ability to have a normal relationship. Although a number of other novels, such as Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak (1999), explore the lasting effects and long healing process of sexual abuse in young women, very few YA authors tackle the unique, delicate struggles faced by young men in similar situations. Read effectively manages to get to the heart of Kyle’s struggle to reconcile his traumatic experiences with the pressures of being a teenage boy, who’s been conditioned by his friends’ and teammates’ hypermasculine ideals. Some readers may find that the storytelling lacks subtlety at points, and the depiction of teen culture seems a bit dated; others may take offense at characters’ mild use of homophobic language. Overall, however, they will find this a unique and compelling story.
A beautifully honest depiction of a teenage boy’s difficult path to healing.Pub Date: March 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-1470112202
Page Count: 194
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told.
A devastating tale of greed and secrets springs from the summer that tore Cady’s life apart.
Cady Sinclair’s family uses its inherited wealth to ensure that each successive generation is blond, beautiful and powerful. Reunited each summer by the family patriarch on his private island, his three adult daughters and various grandchildren lead charmed, fairy-tale lives (an idea reinforced by the periodic inclusions of Cady’s reworkings of fairy tales to tell the Sinclair family story). But this is no sanitized, modern Disney fairy tale; this is Cinderella with her stepsisters’ slashed heels in bloody glass slippers. Cady’s fairy-tale retellings are dark, as is the personal tragedy that has led to her examination of the skeletons in the Sinclair castle’s closets; its rent turns out to be extracted in personal sacrifices. Brilliantly, Lockhart resists simply crucifying the Sinclairs, which might make the family’s foreshadowed tragedy predictable or even satisfying. Instead, she humanizes them (and their painful contradictions) by including nostalgic images that showcase the love shared among Cady, her two cousins closest in age, and Gat, the Heathcliff-esque figure she has always loved. Though increasingly disenchanted with the Sinclair legacy of self-absorption, the four believe family redemption is possible—if they have the courage to act. Their sincere hopes and foolish naïveté make the teens’ desperate, grand gesture all that much more tragic.
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-74126-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
PROFILES
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