Coming of Age

5 days ago

Review of Foster by Claire Keegan

Keegan offers a gorgeously wrought Irish story of childhood, hope, love, and loss that is spare, lovely, heartbreaking, and that brought...

Mar 16

Review of The Golden Enclaves (Scholomance #3) by Naomi Novik

The more somber tone of book three and the focus on logistics feel appropriate as the recent graduates of the Scholomance desperately...

Feb 2

Review of Maame by Jessica George

Jessica George's debut Maame takes on big issues of race, culture, and the challenges of growing up between two cultures while shining in...

Jan 6

Review of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Kingsolver offers an epic story of a faulted, unlikely hero in danger of being crushed by exceptionally difficult circumstances. His...

Nov 23, 2022

Review of True Biz by Sara Nović

True Biz is a coming-of-age story, a beginner's primer on Deaf culture, and a captivating novel about romance, disappointment, fury, and...

Nov 22, 2022

Review of Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson's wonderfully odd 1990s coming-of-age novel centers around teens Frankie and Zeke, their mysterious artistic creation, and...

Oct 11, 2022

Review of I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Former child actress McCurdy's account of her mother's narcissistic, harmful, abusive behavior and how it has shaped the author's life is...

Sep 28, 2022

Review of Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu

Hsu's memoir remembers his friend Ken, who was tragically killed during college. He reflects on friendship and on their connection,...

Sep 22, 2022

Review of Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Carley Fortune offers a satisfying story of coming home, young love, mistakes and redemption, romance, lake life, and some past and...

Jul 26, 2022

Review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

A book about childhood friends making a video game is an unexpected, captivating setup for this wonderfully deep, epic dive into...

Jun 1, 2022

Review of Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

Young Mungo offers a striking story of disappointment, abuse, Protestant-Catholic conflict, and a young, gay love forged in the intensely...

May 31, 2022

Review of Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

Juhea Kim's looping story of Korea, courtesans, pickpockets, and the powerful figures complicating and shaping all of their lives...

Feb 8, 2022

Review of My Heart Went Walking by Sally Hanan

Hanan's 1980s Irish coming-of-age story is full of angst, secrets, life-and-death danger, youthful determination--and the feeling that...

Jan 26, 2022

Review of Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James

In Admissions, Kendra James explores race, friendship, ambition, and the absurdities and rhythm of daily life during her time at a New...

Jan 12, 2022

Review of Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

Betty is based on the author's family stories of difficulties, abuse, tragedies, and a hardscrabble life in the Appalachian foothills of...

Dec 23, 2021

Review of The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

As the young men in The Lincoln Highway face challenge after challenge, they grow, learn, and fight for resolutions to difficult...

Dec 20, 2021

Review of Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliott

Elliott's book for young readers offers a boy-crazy, truly funny main protagonist in Haylah Swinton. I delighted in watching her come...

Dec 2, 2021

Review of The Distance from Four Points by Margo Orlando Littell

In The Distance from Four Points, Littell explores deep human connections, grief, womanhood, what strength means, the power of origins,...

Nov 23, 2021

Review of Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau

In Blau's gleefully 1970s-set novel, Mary Jane doesn't merely shift from emotional innocence to young adulthood, she comes into her own,...

Nov 4, 2021

Review of What You Can See from Here by Mariana Leky

Leky's book is full of magical realism, friends who are like family, some absurd, fablelike elements, and an ongoing exploration of...

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