Stay on the main roads instead of taking this detour.
Seventeen-year-old Livvy Flynn isn’t your average teenager: she is a New York Times bestselling author with a movie deal, a dinner date with Steven Spielberg, and serious money in the bank.
Instead of spending her weekends at high school football games or sleeping over at friends’ houses, Livvy goes on book tours and speaks at writing conferences. Being the young envy of writers everywhere suits Livvy just fine, until one fateful trip to a writing retreat gets derailed. Livvy wakes up after wrecking her car to discover she’s a prisoner, hurt and trapped in a basement in the middle of nowhere, held by a crazy woman and her even crazier daughter. The two seem hellbent on making Livvy pay for an injustice she has no memory of committing, and they have no intention of letting her go until she figures it out. Even Livvy admits that her situation is more than a little reminiscent of Stephen King’s Misery. The difference is that Livvy is so frustratingly dim and full of herself that she’s difficult to root for. Even a confession about the pain of past bullying isn’t enough to sustain readers’ sympathy. While nobody should endure that kind of physical harm, Livvy’s “the universe owes me” attitude is likely to turn off even the most otherwise simpatico teen writers-to-be.
Stay on the main roads instead of taking this detour. (Thriller. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-05554-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
PROFILES
Despite some missteps, this will appeal to readers who enjoy a fresh and realistic teen voice.
A teenage, not-so-lonely loner endures the wilds of high school in Austin, Texas.
Norris Kaplan, the protagonist of Philippe’s debut novel, is a hypersweaty, uber-snarky black, Haitian, French-Canadian pushing to survive life in his new school. His professor mom’s new tenure-track job transplants Norris mid–school year, and his biting wit and sarcasm are exposed through his cataloging of his new world in a field guide–style burn book. He’s greeted in his new life by an assortment of acquaintances, Liam, who is white and struggling with depression; Maddie, a self-sacrificing white cheerleader with a heart of gold; and Aarti, his Indian-American love interest who offers connection. Norris’ ego, fueled by his insecurities, often gets in the way of meaningful character development. The scenes showcasing his emotional growth are too brief and, despite foreshadowing, the climax falls flat because he still gets incredible personal access to people he’s hurt. A scene where Norris is confronted by his mother for getting drunk and belligerent with a white cop is diluted by his refusal or inability to grasp the severity of the situation and the resultant minor consequences. The humor is spot-on, as is the representation of the black diaspora; the opportunity for broader conversations about other topics is there, however, the uneven buildup of detailed, meaningful exchanges and the glibness of Norris’ voice detract.
Despite some missteps, this will appeal to readers who enjoy a fresh and realistic teen voice. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-282411-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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