Fans of Brashares’ Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series will enjoy this romantic tale of cultural exchange on the...
In Akyil’s debut young-adult romance, American teenager Rachel Guo learns about love and friendship on a summer trip to the west coast of Turkey.
Seventeen-year-old Rachel isn’t looking forward to spending her summer slinging coffee in Olympia, Wash., any more than 17-year-old Aylin is looking forward to spending her summer in Didim, Turkey, a tiny resort town on the Aegean Sea. Fortunately for both, Rachel accepts an invitation for an all-expenses-paid trip to spend four weeks learning about Turkish culture, language and family structures. Aylin’s large extended family is eager to welcome an American into their home to teach their traditions and indulge with lavish cuisine; hopefully they can improve their English, too. Rachel learns that Turkish teenage girls and boys may hang out together at underage clubs, but they can’t openly kiss, hold hands or engage in foreplay; courtship often remains secret until both parties are sure they’re in love. Rachel reveals that her father, the son of Chinese immigrants, impregnated her mother out of wedlock, and Aylin judges Rachel’s loyalty and morality based on her parents’ mistake. But when Aylin’s boyfriend, Emre, tries to seduce Rachel, can Aylin put aside her prejudices before everything spirals even further out of control? Akyil’s charming, well-developed female characters are the foundations of this novel. The male players, however, are illustrated with one-dimensional characterization; they’re either stereotyped as good (those who adhere to cultural tradition) or bad (those who adopt more “Westernized” behavior). This is due, in part, to the facile prose and simple structure of the novel. Although the book reads as if it were written by a precocious teenager, the plot is swift and sure. The epistolary effects of emails and texts—complete with Internet jargon and teen slang—should keep the story contemporary and relatable to young-adult readers, and the book’s ending begs for a sequel.
Fans of Brashares’ Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series will enjoy this romantic tale of cultural exchange on the western shores of Turkey.Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463740115
Page Count: 300
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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