A dreamlike but disjointed mystery with vivid imagery.
A teenager and an older man investigate a boy’s drowning in Robinson’s novel.
Yan is a 17-year-old living in Bangkok. He and his best friend, Toi, writes stories in which Yan is a detective and Toi is his doctor assistant. Then Yan gets a crush on a girl named Fah, and Toi stops coming to school. Yan is so infatuated with Fah, in fact, that he nearly forgets about his pal. Fah quickly proves to be a bad influence, but he follows her into trouble willingly. Across town, a scientist named Mr. Torpong becomes preoccupied with a cloud in the sky that his equipment picked up, but which doesn’t seem to exist in reality. When he tells others about it, they don’t take him seriously. His story intersects with Yan’s when he learns of a boy who recently drowned; Mr. Torpong feels that Yan may have known him. Could this be Toi, who suddenly disappeared? A police sergeant named Mongkut is investigating the youth’s death and suspects foul play, but the investigation goes slowly. These intersecting stories play out across the novel and finally intersect in an intense climax. The story as a whole has a surreal quality with a bit of magical realism; there’s an intriguing contrast between Mr. Torpong, who seems to be at the end of his life, and Yan, who’s at the beginning of his. The dense, meandering prose often lingers on imagery rather than action: “He envisioned the sun, and then the crescent moon with the morning star sinking into the east, and then the morning light withdrawn. The assiduous black of night began to chisel out each the billion stars inside his intellect until—voilà the revealing spark!” There are mythic elements—references to folktales, mythology, and more recent tales of Sherlock Holmes—and recurring motifs, such as a black-and-white cat that visits Yan and Mr. Torpong, which make for an intriguing mélange of influences. However, the narrative generally wanders, and the story sometimes feels hard to follow as a result.
A dreamlike but disjointed mystery with vivid imagery.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 979-8218186722
Page Count: 194
Publisher: Ruy Lopez Editions
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2023
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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