A fragmented examination of the composite elements making up people, community, and memories.
A Black teen girl begins to closely examine the depression and addiction that afflicted her mother in an effort to avoid the same fate.
Sixteen-year-old Yaminah Okar changes from a traumatized young girl into a self-possessed vegan over the years after she moves to Brooklyn with her father to make a fresh start. Cutting off ties with her mother’s family back home in Obsidian, Michigan, she has crafted a new life with solid friendships and a caring boyfriend. However, that safe existence is knocked off kilter when she learns about the death of her mother from a Facebook message. A series of panic attacks and memories of her traumatic relationship with her mother prompt a return to her hometown for a family reunion and memorial. The reason for Minah and her father’s original departure is hinted at but never fully fleshed out as family members have tried to protect Minah from knowing the full truth. Meanwhile, passages interspersed between chapters from Minah’s mother’s perspective recount her slide into drug use, allowing readers to see the insidious nature of addiction. Several other characters also use drugs as a means of self-medicating. The challenges of gentrification are also woven into the story and combined with a spotty narrative in which hidden family members later appear in a disjointed manner. Readers are left piecing together a complicated tapestry of ideas that could have been integrated more smoothly.
A fragmented examination of the composite elements making up people, community, and memories. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-525-55623-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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