Resolves a bit too happily and neatly, but it’s a comforting, worthwhile trip to a reassuring universe.
A simple crime gives way to a life-changing adventure for three homeless teenagers in debut author Taouk’s moralistic bildungsroman.
Life is tough, and friendship means everything for homeless teens Peter, Chris and Rosa. They make a living on the streets, sleeping in a van, stealing money for food and charming meals out of a local waitress, but their hardships are tempered by their strong bond and can-do spirits. Although life on the run is never easy, the trio seems to have it figured it out until the day they decide to rob a local Catholic church. At first, it seems as though they’re successful, but when an attempt at selling stolen goods takes a bad turn, the friends end up seeking forgiveness from the Catholic priests they stole from. Before they know it, their run-in with the police sends Rosa back to her aunt Jacky and a past she’d rather forget. Soon, Peter and Chris uncover painful secrets of Rosa’s childhood as they try to help their friend cope with a situation they don’t fully understand. Through it all, they develop an unlikely relationship with the Catholic priests, and they begin to reconsider the trajectory their lives are following. The ending is slightly preachy and saccharine, but it’s nonetheless satisfying to watch this lovable cast evolve. The three teens’ warmly written friendship leaps off the page with a realistic balance of disagreements, vulnerable moments and true-blue selfless loyalty, and a thread of mystery will keep readers guessing and engaged.
Resolves a bit too happily and neatly, but it’s a comforting, worthwhile trip to a reassuring universe.Pub Date: July 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499011128
Page Count: 172
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
