A compelling exploration of mental illness.
Two depressed teens navigate their disorders and their love life.
Seventeen-year-old Reggie Mason has withdrawn from her school and family, spending her days depressed, alone, and mad at the world. While picking up a prescription at CVS, Reggie meets fellow white teen Snake, and the pair strikes up an unlikely courtship. Unfortunately, Snake’s ex-girlfriend happens to be Reggie’s former childhood friend Carla, also white. Carla also happens to be seven months pregnant with Snake’s baby. Told from Reggie’s first-person perspective, the novel explores the effects depression can have on a person in even the most bizarre of circumstances. The author handles the mental illness angle well, confronting it squarely without turning her novel into an overblown, weepy TV movie. The author also wisely positions Reggie and Carla as reconnecting friends as opposed to girls fighting over a boy, providing a refreshing dramatic avenue. Less exciting is Snake, who is as toxic to the narrative as he is to Reggie and Carla. The tattooed, self-absorbed, wishy-washy aspiring artist leans hard on his mental illness and often brings those around him down as well. These character defects work thematically, but it is a sincere drag whenever Snake enters the picture. Reggie’s relationship with her parents is much more interesting; a late reveal about her past feels clunky in the moment but reshapes enough in hindsight to be worth it.
A compelling exploration of mental illness. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-80504-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
A sweet, undemanding summer read.
The summer before her senior year, 17-year-old Avery unexpectedly finds romance on a family vacation.
Avery’s family spends their summers away from Los Angeles, enjoying the outdoors; this year it will be two months at a remote resort in the California woods. Her 15-year-old sister, Lauren, an outgoing video blogger, is distraught by the camp’s lack of internet access while go-with-the-flow Avery is just hoping for no drama, upset after having found out her best friend kissed her ex-boyfriend. An initial miscommunication makes things tense with handsome camp staff member Brooks—until Avery agrees to help him write songs for a band competition in exchange for his helping her step out of her comfort zone. Of course, staff aren’t supposed to fraternize with campers, which leads to much sneaking around, though Avery and her sister attend several staff parties thanks to befriending lifeguard Maricela and drummer Kai. Avery learns to find her voice, both metaphorically—she feels her parents don’t take her seriously—and literally, as she must overcome her stage fright when asked to step in for the vocalist in Brooks’ band when they compete in the festival. Avery’s complicated relationship with her family feels underdeveloped, though the love story with Brooks hits all the right notes. Fans of West will enjoy this watered-down Dirty Dancing tale, with its swoony romance and uncomplicated plot. Most characters are White; Maricela is implied Latinx, and Kai is Polynesian.
A sweet, undemanding summer read. (Romance. 12-16)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-17626-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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