Harriet the Spy was never so actionable. Carly’s tale begins in medias res: Carly follows her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend around New York City, disguising herself with oversize sunglasses and scratchy wool hats. She knows it’s unhealthy, but she just can’t help herself—that annoying Taylor Deen isn’t just dating Carly’s Brian, but she seems to be beautiful, friendly and smart to boot. After an extended scene of Carly’s stalking, the narrative travels back in time six months to present the story of Carly and Brian’s relationship. Carly’s summer of working at camp, overly peppered with exposition, gives the thin impression of a likable girl whose first real relationship is made even better by her friendships with Brian’s warm, loving family. Perhaps that makes the breakup worse, although it’s Carly’s own obsessive behavior that forces the relationship’s end. With too much telling instead of showing and a rushed conclusion, it’s difficult to understand Carly well enough to empathize with her poor choices. They are worth exploring, but as a story, this falls flat. (Fiction. 13-16)
Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-670-06303-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
Mystery lovers will be pleased to have this whodunit, which is neither Victoriana nor steampunk
The brilliant daughter of Detective Sgt. Moriarty meets posh Sherlock Holmes, so obviously there will be murders.
Mori's got her hands full putting up with idiots at school, grieving her six-months-dead mum, and protecting her three younger brothers from their alcoholic and abusive father. Not so long ago, her family was happy: her dad spent time being manly with the boys, while Mori learned about martial arts and sleight of hand from her mother. With all that over, Mori has no intention of becoming friends with arrogant classmate Sherlock. Despite her best efforts to stay away from him, though, Mori fails. Both his intelligence and his affection for her are deeply compelling, and that's not to mention how interesting it is to be solving a murder with one of the few clever people she knows. When the crime they're investigating starts hitting too close to home—reminding Mori of her beloved mother's many secrets—she no longer wants Sherlock to be a part of her investigation. The story is set in present-day London and narrated affectingly by Mori. The conclusion leaves space for the fated collapse of the Holmes/Moriarty relationship in later series entries, putting a nice potential twist on the good girl–bad boy trend.
Mystery lovers will be pleased to have this whodunit, which is neither Victoriana nor steampunk . (Mystery. 13-15)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2303-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ambitious failure.
Three best friends spend the night before graduation in a run-down movie house.
Bertucci, Olivia, and Codman have been best friends all through high school, and on the eve of their graduation, the trio agrees to spend their final hours as high school students locked in the recently boarded-up Circle Cinema. In these few hours, truths are revealed, hearts are torn open, and futures are decided upon. These ambitions ultimately sink the novel. The enterprise is burdened with overthought dialogue, clumsy metaphors, and what comes across as a desperate desire to be seen as adult. The novel switches narrative perspective from teen to teen at the beginning of every chapter, but the device is unsuccessful: these characters all sound and think the same. These attributes almost make the book work as thematic commentary on the nature of teenage friendship, but unfortunately it doesn’t go much beyond the obvious observation that teens tend to think like their friends and are desperate to escape childhood. Throw in a half-baked love triangle and an apparent attempt to ape John Green and David Levithan's "Schrodinger's cat" metaphor from Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010)—a metaphor that even that book barely pulled off—and you have a book that has all the hallmarks of a smart, sensitive book for teens but without the necessary nuance or emotional excitement.
An ambitious failure. (Fiction. 14-16)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-7489-5
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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