An unexpected lens for a passable love story with an expected outcome.
Unrequited love through the filter of semiselfish organ donation.
Pianist Peter and dancer Sophie are fused together. Neighbors and friends for ages, they are intensely and emotionally intertwined. Peter’s kidney disease keeps him at home, perfect for introspective Sophie, who’d rather say nay to social activity and chill instead chez Peter. Their union leaps to another level when Sophie donates a kidney to save Peter’s life, setting off a chain of awakenings within both. Sophie wants next-level love, bisexual Peter wants to see what’s out there. The fissures in their formerly solid rapport threaten to dichotomize their lives as Peter embraces life’s opportunities (and a new beau) while Sophie laments the lack of amorous affection she expected as a byproduct of her hand in Peter’s health. Though the dual narrative is defined by namesake chapter headers, the voices initially are interchangeable, bleeding into each other instead of landing as dynamically different. There are a number of secondary diverse characters (East, Southeast, and South Asian; Latinx; and queer), and Peter’s love interest is half Argentinian and half white, but the two leads are both white (Sophie is Jewish, Peter describes himself as half Jewish).
An unexpected lens for a passable love story with an expected outcome. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9776-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
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
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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