If You’re Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser
2019; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 72; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2019.0116
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Gothic Literature and Media Analysis
ResumoReviewed by: If You’re Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser Karen Coats Loutzenhiser, Katy If You’re Out There. Balzer + Bray, 2019 [320p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-286567-0 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-286569-4 $9.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10 Zan is gutted; despite heartfelt protestations from her best friend, Priya, that she will stay in touch after moving to California, she is not responding to emails or texts. What’s more puzzling is that the captions on Priya’s Instagram pictures of sunny California beaches don’t sound like Priya at all. Though Zan’s mother tries to encourage her to give Priya space, Zan’s determined to find out why her friend is freezing her out. She enlists the willing help of Logan, a new boy who seems much nicer than his rumored criminal past would suggest, and the two discover that all is not as it seems with Priya. Without much exposition, readers are plunged into a highly textured account of Zan’s everyday life in threads joined by Logan’s backstory and a budding romance; in short, there is a lot going on here before some deliberately vague journal entries from Priya appear in the narrative and the mystery takes a dangerous turn. Readers comfortable with making initial inferences and juggling a lot of realistic situational detail will be rewarded as the plot picks up speed and Zan’s instincts that something is wrong prove correct. While the premise of a girl not willing to accept the disappearance of her friend is similar to that of Jackson’s Monday’s Not Coming (BCCB 6/18), the payoff of the more privileged Zan’s tenacity is a whole lot happier. Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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