School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up--Barely surviving the mundanity of small town living, high school seniors and best friends Serena Velasco and Melody Grimshaw are determined to get out. Bored with their surroundings, the pair isolates themselves by holding on to dreams that exist far outside of their run-down factory town. After intentionally failing her Western Civ class, Serena is offered the chance to participate in an independent study; she must examine upward mobility as she observes it in her community, or fail the year. Meanwhile, Grimshaw's dream of becoming a professional dancer seems within her grasp when she makes the cheerleading team. Suddenly embraced by her peers, she gets a taste of what life outside Colchis could be if she can find a job and escape her family's sordid past. Yet, dream-chasing proves to be more than either expected; when Grimshaw's desperation to leave Colchis becomes dangerous, Serena is forced to reckon with who she really is behind the sarcasm and guarded persona. This intense, dark coming-of-age story extends coast to coast as Serena attempts to repair the spaces that have grown between her and the people she loves. From examining the rituals of an American high school to engaging in profound conversations with cross-country truckers, the novel raises the question: Can we move beyond our family and community legacy to achieve more? Beautiful prose emphasizes complex themes of faith, the class system, and personal responsibility. VERDICT With its impeccably developed characters and hard-hitting narrative, this is an essential purchase for teen and new adult collections.--Elise Martinez, Zion-Benton Public Library, IL
Horn Book Review
Acerbic, aimless teen Serena Velasco wants out of her "small and grimy" upstate New York factory town; so does her best friend, beautiful and dreamy Melody Grimshaw, who hopes a career as a dancer will be her ticket out. In this bleakly realistic, closely narrated story, Serena struggles to untangle her identity from Grimshaw's as their futures begin to diverge. Serena's thorny wit makes her an entertaining, strong-voiced observer of banal, stagnant small-town life, but one painfully naive regarding her privilege. While Serena has the brains and supportive middle-class upbringing to go to college, Grimshaw lacks the financial means to escape her poor and dysfunctional family. A school assignment on "upward mobility" opens Serena's eyes to the challenges her friend faces, but when Grimshaw follows a sinister older guy to California, even our narrator's best intentions prove too little and too late. This is a raw, atmospheric depiction of a complicated relationship. The story unflinchingly faces hard questions about class and friendship, even when the answers are difficult, uncomfortable, or even tragic. Jessica Tackett Macdonald November/December 2019 p.100(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A brilliant, frustrated girl seeks connection and freedom beyond her claustrophobic hometown.Serena Velasco knows there's something rotten in the state of Colchis, the abandoned factory town that her uncle describes as "the burned-over cinder of the American Dream." She adopts her late father's communist philosophies and Red Army cap as shields to keep herself loftily separate from a community that has never welcomed or understood herand that she does not wish to welcome or understand either. Her only friend is talented dancer Melody Grimshaw, a fellow social pariah who comes from the poorest family in town. When Serena's mother becomes the new principal, Serena and Melody think they can use that leverage to achieve the goals that will get them out of Colchis, but chasing their dreams proves more complicated, isolating, and dangerous than either girl predicted. As the scope of the narrative expands to old-money Maine, a California strip club, and a cross-country hitchhiking trip, the spaces between Serena and the people she loves threaten to grow irreparably wide. All major characters are white. Serena is a stunningly realistic and layered protagonist, brilliant but nave and projecting a prickly disdain that covers deeper insecurities. Her story unfolds in remarkably sharp, vivid prose, and even the least sympathetic characters are rendered with thoughtful complexity. A girl-centered Catcher in the Rye for the 21st century. (Fiction. 14-adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Serena and her best friend, Grimshaw, are stuck in their rural New England town. Serena, smart and cocky, enjoys annoying teachers and family. Grimshaw is considered white trash, but her love of dancing gives her hope there's a way out. Through a very long senior year, the two friends change and don't change, but it is Grimshaw's decision to leave with an older guy, who has plans for her to "dance" in California, that sets in motion an irrevocable transition. One of the best parts of the story is its sense of place, which is writ large. Small, broken towns don't get a lot of attention in youth books, but Tolman digs deep, exploring the people who live there, their nightmares as well as their dreams. Serena, confused about her place, comes to know what privilege means at a very visceral level. There's a lot here that could have been left out, including many characters, some underdeveloped and some who change their stripes without any warning. But the relationship between the girls will keep readers' interest with its depth and intensity.--Ilene Cooper Copyright 2019 Booklist
