A potentially intriguing experiment runs aground.
Worlds collide and characters come to life when four young writers discover the limits of their creative powers.
Haunted by the deaths of their sisters Maria and Elizabeth, the motherless Brontë quartet seeks to escape small-town life and limited futures through their shared-world stories. When Emily balks at her and Anne’s exclusion from tales of Verdopolis, older siblings Charlotte and Branwell reluctantly readmit their sisters—literally as well literarily, for Verdopolis is a realm manifested through their strong imaginations…and an uneven bargain with an untrustworthy spirit. There, the four encounter semisentient characters, some growing aware of their frequent revisions and intent on hunting down Verdopolis' creators. Loosely based on the real Brontës’ juvenilia and drawing heavily on their published works—violent but variable Rogue is an ur-Heathcliff, Zamorna a Mr. Rochester—Verdopolis and its inhabitants are shifting and shallow, ornately detailed but lacking depth. The fictional Brontës are equally underdeveloped, hewing closely to their biographically documented roles: plain Charlotte despairs of becoming a governess; braggart Branwell fears obscurity; eccentric Emily loves the wild moors; and prim Anne is unflinchingly honest and overly preachy. The frivolous and erratic worldbuilding and the childish Brontës’ capricious actions undermine Coakley’s serious contemplations of creativity, class, and guilt.
A potentially intriguing experiment runs aground. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1034-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
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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