A remarkable tale of youthful resilience overshadowed by an abundance of teenage angst.
A 15-year-old girl comes of age in the Dutch East Indies as World War II ends in this YA romance loosely based on a true story.
Van Duyn credits Nora Valk as the inspiration for this novel about a teenager’s struggles. Nell Arends is interned in 1942 with family members on Java after the Japanese invade the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Her father, a pilot for the Dutch East Indies army, is imprisoned in Japan. Nell chronicles her arduous journey, beginning with her release from a jungle prison camp following the Japanese surrender in 1945. Her mother now dead, she travels with her aunt to the Javanese city of Jogjakarta. Then, while the Indonesians revolt to overthrow Dutch colonial rule, the two escape by ship to a Singapore refugee camp. Nell’s father reappears and makes some unilateral decisions—first settling her in a beach resort near Sydney, Australia; next, in a girls boarding school far from Sydney and her friends; and then in the Netherlands. He remains on Java, quietly marrying a woman and tacitly wanting Nell out of the way. Despite the incredible events occurring, Nell’s constant obsession is with Tim Thissen, a boy she meets briefly on a harrowing transport while fleeing internment. The author presents an extraordinary survival story with rich details. But the book’s opening sentence, “I was fifteen and I had never kissed a boy,” epitomizes the focus of a tale rife with dramatic potential. Whatever is happening around her—war, her mother’s death, violent revolution—Nell remains a typical teenager. While waiting a few hours for a train after escaping the prison camp, she whines: “I’d rather be standing in line in the camp waiting for my food!” After arriving safely in Singapore, she complains that “now I wish I were back on board the ship.” Reunited with her father, who likely was tortured in a Japanese prison camp, she exhibits little compassion for his attempts to restart his life. As a narrator, the infatuated Nell lacks perspective, and the action often meanders. Translated from the Dutch by Hoegen, the novel abounds with awkward phrasing: “I’m fifteen now and so are you, of course, but you’ve changed so much”; “After years, I meet you in the safe house and now I’m sharing the same cabin with you.”
A remarkable tale of youthful resilience overshadowed by an abundance of teenage angst.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-912430-43-7
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Aurora Metro Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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