Author: Kirsten Hubbard
Classification: YA Fiction, Contemporary
Source: Won!
Classification: YA Fiction, Contemporary
Source: Won!
Overall Grade:
A
Would I recommend it?
Yes, for a thoughtful contemporary read!
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Summary (from Goodreads):
It's hard finding beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, but 14-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild-girl Mandarin Ramey: 17, shameless and utterly carefree. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin. When they're united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic. Grace plays along when Mandarin suggests they run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds plaguing their Badlands town. Because all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken, and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, no friendship can withstand betrayal.
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My Thoughts:
When I picked up Like Mandarin, I wasn't thrilled about the concept. A 14 year old girl who becomes "friends" with the older, cooler, more mysterious girl that she is seriously obsessed with. Something about this entire plot made me cringe and avoid reading the book!
However, Like Mandarin turned out to be more about friendship, culture, travel, and beauty than anything else, and Hubbard's representation of young Grace's obsession with Mandarin is very accurate, in my opinion.
Although there is not a very exciting plot that keeps the reader turning pages just because they need to find out who the murderer is, I was still anxious to finish the tale and find out whether or not Grace and Mandarin would be able to escape Washokey.
There is something lovely about the way that Hubbard tackled the concept of travel and environment, that stereotypical urge that makes small town peoples want to leave and "see the world." In a way, Hubbard shows through Grace and Mandarin's friendship and adventures that landscape or location does not change your overall human experience. Wherever you go, there will always be people like Mandarin and Grace that want to get out, people like Grace's mother that want to stay, and towns like Washokey that celebrate things like Jackalopes, just to have something to do.
Overall, Like Mandarin is a thoughtful contemporary novel that is a light, fast read!
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Overall Grade:
A
Would I recommend it?
Yes, for a thoughtful contemporary read!
A
Would I recommend it?
Yes, for a thoughtful contemporary read!
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