A love story that successfully blends the lighthearted with the serious to demonstrate the power of community.
Tragedy reunites estranged childhood friends.
When Ms. Barnes, his beloved hometown librarian, dies, Said Hossain’s older sister, Safiyah, picks him up from boarding school a week before summer vacation so he can return home to Vermont for the funeral. The somber occasion puts Said back in contact with childhood friend Tiwa Olatunji, who hasn’t forgiven him for leaving her and their community behind. Thrust back together, Said and Tiwa must reconcile their past while dealing with current challenges, which include saving the local Islamic center (after being damaged by a fire on the day of Ms. Barnes’ funeral, it’s now slated to be torn down and replaced with apartments), ensuring that the upcoming community Eid celebration can go off without a hitch, and figuring out how to heal their friendship and move forward as romantic feelings grow between them. Told from Said’s and Tiwa’s alternating first-person perspectives, the narrative successfully transitions between the co-authors’ equally strongly executed chapters. The engaging writing tackles grief, anti-Black racism within the Muslim community, and the teens’ navigating and reconciling parental expectations with personal dreams. The characters reflect the lived diversity of the American Muslim community: Said is Bangladeshi American, while Tiwa, who’s Black, is Nigerian American; lesbian Safiyah embarks on a sweet relationship with another girl from the Islamic center.
A love story that successfully blends the lighthearted with the serious to demonstrate the power of community. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781250890139
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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 heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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