A thoughtful coming-of-age story that takes unexpected turns.
Harrison’s YA novel, set in 1980s California, tells the tale of a young girl facing her grief over losing her beloved sister.
Anna Heath is nearly 16 when her 28-year-old sister, Laura, dies unexpectedly. The aftermath of such a loss would be tough for any sibling, but Laura, who married a man named Steven, cared for Anna like a mother after their parents’ deaths in a flood more than a decade ago. After Laura’s death, Anna leaned on a couple friends, Jack and Tessa, with whom she spends time. One of Laura’s friends, Kim Sanders, becomes Anna’s ally in her investigation into a secret of Laura’s that involves the place their parents died: Riverwood, New York. Anna has vivid dreams, and she can sense their approach: “The flickering light seemed brighter and brighter, and I leaned back and threw my arm across my eyes. A dream was coming.” As Harrison develops the story, the dreams start to show significant connections to Anna’s past and Laura’s secret. The italicized dream descriptions, written in the third person, are followed by an informative note from Laura written in bold; in the first note, for example, readers learn of a woman named Christine, who plays a critical role in the story. Kim also reveals that Laura had planned a trip to Riverwood for Anna’s birthday; Anna finds the plane tickets and asks Kim to accompany her on her journey. Overall, this is an intriguing novel in which the quest narrative delivers an intriguing story that deeply explores questions of identity. In Riverwood, the narrative offers readers a twist that effectively allows the protagonist to move forward in her life without Laura; she thinks back on her sister’s words of wisdom, which have a long history: “You are who you think you are, so always think of yourself at your very finest.”
A thoughtful coming-of-age story that takes unexpected turns.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2023
ISBN: 979-8854841535
Page Count: 223
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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