An engrossing tale full of spiky attitude that masks roiling emotions.
A small-town gay teen struggles with bullying, family trauma, and longings for a glitzier life than is good for him in Costello’s YA coming-of-age novel.
Toby Ryerson is a 17-year-old living in the dreary town of Shelter Valley in the Adirondacks. There, his habitual snarky attitude, makeup, and a wardrobe heavy on women’s lingerie make him the target of homophobic slurs and beatings, while his assignations with random men at the Marsh Trail cruising ground earn him comparisons with his mother, Bonnie, who overdosed when he was 4 years old. Toby dreams of fleeing to New York City to see his drag-queen idol Ravisha Mann’s Manntasia show; he has no interest in attending college, as his half-brother and guardian, Jimmy, a paper-mill worker whose only solace is restoring his ’69 Camaro, wants him to. Tensions boil over when Toby outs his ex-boyfriend Dylan, who responds with violence; Toby is rescued by Gabe Fournier, a handsome 30-something resplendent in “black leather biker boots, a threadbare wife-beater, and crotch-tight Levis” who puts Toby’s tormentors to flight. Gabe tries to mentor Toby—the relationship turns sexual and is further complicated by Gabe’s history with Jimmy, who bullied him in high school. Toby finally runs away to Manhattan to live with Gabe, but his dream becomes nightmarish when he confronts the reality of Gabe’s big-city life. Costello complicates this story of queer pride and small-town bigotry with nuances and subterranean conflicts: Even the Trump-supporting characters possess sensitivity and insight, while Toby’s put-upon self-righteousness masks his own callousness and irresponsibility. Costello’s prose is sharp and vivid—he delves into his characters with an evocative lyricism. (“He was bull-necked, blue-collared, and as hulking as a load of cement, bearing down on life with a weary kind of tenacity, all brusqueness and persistence and as earnest as a freight train.”) Readers will root for Toby to figure things out before the world’s ugliness marks him too deeply.
An engrossing tale full of spiky attitude that masks roiling emotions.Pub Date: April 20, 2025
ISBN: 9781590217962
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Lethe Press
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A swift fable about navigating the perils of middle school.
A bossy middle school fashionista feels threatened by the new girl in Saii’s YA novel.
Vanessa Pocker and her friends Chelsea, Adrienne and Katie are the richest of the rich in their Santa Monica, Calif., middle school, and they comprise the Sassy Divas. Vanessa leads the pack and dictates whom the divas are allowed to talk to, what they’re allowed to wear and how they conduct themselves in public. Vanessa is so domineering that it’s a miracle she has any friends at all. Had Saii endowed her with an ounce of kindness, the loyalty of her minions might be more understandable. Vanessa’s militant nature finally alienates Katie, the diva who is too much of a bookworm, according to Vanessa. Katie befriends Flo, who’s on the Sassy Diva “do not speak to” list (Flo had once refused to hold Vanessa’s purse). Excommunicated from the Sassy Divas, Katie befriends the new girl at the school, Quinn. This infuriates Vanessa, and she declares war. A power play ensues among the adversarial lip-glossed sets, with Vanessa, Chelsea and Adrienne on one side and Katie, Quinn and Flo on the other. Vanessa turns to guy friend Ryan, who offers the only voice of reason when he admonishes her for obsessing over trivialities, such as revenge and makeovers, when there are starving children in the world. He seems to be nothing more than Vanessa’s sounding board, and it’s unclear what he gets out of the relationship. At least Vanessa buys clothes and makeup for her divas, on occasion. Mired in trendy youngster lingo, Saii’s tale accurately depicts girls’ power plays and the alienation that can result from simply owning jeans without a designer label. Fashion, gossip, popularity and shopping define these characters, and any threat of competition is cause for war. Vanessa’s parents rarely make appearances, except for a poignant scene when Vanessa’s mother engages her daughter in a heart-to-heart about her selfish behavior. It’s a relief to finally hear the mother speak and lead the story to an ending marked with humor and depth. Saii’s literary chops are inconsistently displayed and improve toward the conclusion. Although the average middle school girl may not wear Jimmy Choos or form private elitist groups, young readers might find themselves curious about these affluent trendsetters. At least Vanessa learns her lesson, which raises the novel a notch above teenybopper fluff.
A swift fable about navigating the perils of middle school.Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 9781937675080
Page Count: 155
Publisher: Lekha Publishers
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An intriguing, if not always emotionally engaging, story of a serious teen problem.
Somers’ debut young-adult novel follows a teenage boy from sickness to tenuous health as he battles an eating disorder and the problems that helped create it.
Nathan is a typical teen with typical problems, including an unhappy family life and romantic disappointment, but he’s got an unhealthy “solution” for dealing with them: starving and purging himself. His descent into bulimia and anorexia occurs quite quickly; it starts with Nathan taking short bike rides to get away from his domineering father and alcoholic mother, and soon he’s inducing vomiting; not long afterward, he’s admitted to an eating-disorder program, at which point the book seems to find its center. Nathan is the only boy in his unit, a fact that his status-obsessed parents find it hard to understand; in fact, as the book makes clear, boys make up 10 percent of those who suffer from eating disorders. Somers’ novel never falls into “after-school special” territory, but it has a clear message. Nathan is depicted as a smart, cynical teenager, but his trials are sometimes more informative than heart-wrenching. The short chapters, complete with bad teenage poetry, keep the story moving, and Nathan’s dad, mom and nurse all get at least one chance to tell their side of the story. But although these multiple points of view are interesting, they may distract readers from Nathan’s personal trials. Also, the novel sometimes gets bogged down in eating-disorder program protocol; for example, a plan to interrupt Nathan’s family therapy takes two pages of emails, rather than a line or two of dialogue.
An intriguing, if not always emotionally engaging, story of a serious teen problem.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0988367203
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Rundy Hill Press LLC
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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