A disappointing sequel to the standout The Living (2013).
After surviving the tsunami that sank their cruise ship, escaping an island harboring a deadly secret and enduring 36 days at sea, three teens and an adult reach what’s left of California—a quarantined, anarchic region devastated by earthquakes and a lethal, engineered pandemic.
Gangs control spheres of influence and prohibit travel. The dead are everywhere. Teens Shy, Carmen and Marcus suspect their families also perished. Shoeshine, the man who engineered their escape and their only guide, is a mystery himself. Inoculated against Romero Disease, the teens want to hunt for their families, but circumstances lead them to accompany Shoeshine east to Arizona, where the precious vaccine can be produced and disseminated to millions at risk. Shy and Carmen’s mutual attraction grows, but she’s engaged to someone among the missing. (Awkward sexuality in books for teens generally expresses a female perspective; Shy’s touching, funny account makes a welcome change.) Frustratingly, there’s no throughline to the plot; it doesn’t so much unwind as fall apart. Horrific discoveries (babies shot in a hospital, children killing and killed) lack the weight they merit; coincidence strains credulity. Latino protagonists are all too rare in teen books, but Shy and his cohort here feel more like placeholders than developed characters. Quests and goals are abandoned without resolution as if the author, having lost interest in his story midway, has left characters—and readers—to finish it themselves.
A disappointing sequel to the standout The Living (2013). (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 12, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-74122-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 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
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
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