CBR18 BINGO: Or (for Clap When You Land – lots of choices), Middle (for She Knows All the Names – 2nd book in a trilogy)
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
This is a YA novel in verse, which makes it a fairly quick read. When a DR-bound plane departing New York goes down, it affects Yahaira and Camino, daughters of a man on the plane, but each is unaware of the other’s existence. Their father was a man with secrets, with a legal family in the U.S. and a second daughter (and previously a wife) in the Dominican Republic.
At first, the book isn’t about the secrets. It’s about the girls’ grief. What it means to lose a parent, what that might mean for your dreams, and the regrets that linger behind. Then the girls learn about each other and have to decide what to do with that knowledge on top of everything else.
The language is beautiful, though I suspect much of the phrasing would have translated well to prose:
- “He must have realized/his laugh was like one of those paper shredders/making a sad confetti of my hopes” (p. 15).
- “A hundred other questions puff into dandelions,/wisp up in the air between us/but Tía just shakes her head/& doesn’t make a wish/on a single one (p. 162).
But there are other times when the story works well specifically as verse, particularly because of the layout of the words, which might have more spaces between them than usual or be suddenly middle- or right-aligned. In a prose work, you’re less likely to get
“& then the baby inhales a deep gasp
just as the electricity returns to the barrio” (p. 169).
YA books that are contemporary fiction (as opposed to fantasy) don’t often appeal much to me, regardless of how well-written they are, because I’m past being interested in a high school setting and the attendant social concerns. But this book is about grief and family, and in addition to being very well-written, it was also deeply engaging. 4.25 stars rounded down.
She Knows All the Names by Michelle Jabès Corpora
This is the sequel to His Face Is the Sun, and I was was more engaged with this one right from the start, compared to the first book. We have the same 4 POV characters as in the first book (though the prologue, epilogue, a couple interstitial bits are from the POV of an ibis, rather than a cat). They are dealing with both the effects of Mery’s rule and the return of Setnakht.
I still like the characters (Neff is still my favorite), and we continue to see character growth and development. In particular, the characters are discovering new abilities and exploring what’s important to them and what sacrifices they may have to make. Where it wasn’t as strong for me was some of the plotting. As gripping as this was, especially towards the end, there were times when some things felt a little too easy, maybe even edging slightly toward unearned, and I had mixed feelings about some of the gods-related interventions.
And now I have to wait several months for the conclusion to the trilogy. I’m looking forward to it. (I haven’t decided on a rating yet for this one. Probably 4-ish stars.)
