Napoli (Zel, p. 691, etc.) turns from folklore to the Bible for inspiration, and crafts a brutal, challenging tale. Living with her widower father, Miriam roams the countryside, sings from the treetops, and acts in other ways inappropriate for the women of Magdala. She suffers seizures (probably epileptic ones) and, believing she is possessed, keeps them a secret, so that she will not become an outcast. She is drawn to Abraham, son of a servant, who is almost completely paralyzed and therefore mistakenly thought to be an idiot; in exchange for her friendship, he teaches her to read, using songs from the Torah. Their feelings deepen into love; Abraham dies knowing that Miriam carries their son. Later, in a shocking scene, Miriam is raped, suffers another seizure, and miscarries. In her subsequent travels away from and then back to Magdala for a certain famous meeting, Miriam prays, sings, and meditates, trying to make sense of her life and future. As is true of the protagonists in Napoli's The Magic Circle (1993) and Zel, Miriam's trials make her a tragic figure but also strengthen her, freeing her from the physical and intellectual restraints imposed on those of her sex. The novel may not easily find an audience: Its length, stiff prose ("The yellow jasmine winds through the trees behind us in such profusion you think they are [sic] the sun itself"), and deliberate pace will prevent many readers from appreciating the intelligence with which Napoli develops her themes and characters. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-590-93705-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1996
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT RELIGIOUS FICTION
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Rowan teams up with her academic nemesis to win a citywide scavenger hunt.
Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been rivals in a never-ending game of one-upmanship since freshman year. Now, on the last day of senior year, Rowan hopes to best Neil once and for all as valedictorian, then win Howl, a scavenger hunt with a $5,000 cash prize. She also hopes to sneak away to her favorite romance author’s book signing; no one’s ever respected her passion for the genre, not even her children’s book author/illustrator parents. But Rowan’s named salutatorian, and vengeful classmates plot to end her and Neil’s reign. At first their partnership is purely strategic, but as the pair traverse the city, they begin to open up. Rowan learns that Neil is Jewish too and can relate to both significant cultural touchstones and experiences of casual anti-Semitism. As much as Rowan tries to deny it, real feelings begin to bloom. Set against a lovingly evoked Seattle backdrop, Rowan and Neil’s relationship develops in an absorbing slow burn, with clever banter and the delicious tension of first love. Issues of class, anti-Semitism, and sex are discussed frankly. Readers will emerge just as obsessed with this love story as Rowan is with her beloved romance novels. Rowan’s mother is Russian Jewish and Mexican, and her father is American Jewish and presumably White; most other characters are White.
A dizzying, intimate romance. (author’s note) (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4024-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
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High school senior Maya Aziz works up the courage to tell her parents that she’s gotten into the film school of her dreams in New York City, but their expectations combined with anti-Muslim backlash from a terror attack threaten to derail her dream.
Maya, the only brown girl in her school with the only immigrant parents, loves parts of her Indian culture but blames everything she thinks she can’t have on her cultural constraints and on the fact that she’s different. Time is running out to break the news to her parents that her filmmaking is more than just a hobby. Meanwhile, two potential love interests command her attention. Her matchmaking parents like Kareem, an intriguing young Indian man Maya meets and dates, while Phil, a white classmate who’s been her longtime crush, remains a secret from her parents. Interspersed with Maya’s intimate first-person account are brief, cinematic interludes tracking a disturbed young man who commits a terror attack. First reports blame someone who shares Maya’s last name, and the backlash they suffer leads her parents to restrict Maya’s options. Maya is not especially religious, but she is forced to grapple with her Muslim identity as bullying takes a dangerous turn. Her feelings of entrapment within her parents’ dreams are laid on thick, and Maya herself notes a clichéd moment or two in her story, but the core relationships are authentic and memorable, and the conclusion is satisfying.
A well-crafted plot with interesting revelations about living as a second-generation Muslim-American teen in today’s climate. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-61695-847-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Soho Teen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
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