Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her-who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves-Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. This tear-jerker will leave readers wanting to follow the next chapter in Darius’ life.Īfter surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself. Khorram’s debut novel is filled with insight into the lives of teens, weaving together the reality of living with mental illness while also dealing with identity and immigration politics. For the first time in a long time, Darius learns to love himself no matter what external forces attempt to squash his confidence. Sohrab teaches Darius what friendship is really about: loyalty, honesty, and someone who has your back in a football (soccer) match. But all that changes when Darius meets Sohrab, a Bahá’í boy, in Yazd. When he arrives in Iran, learning to play the Persian card game Rook, socializing, and celebrating Nowruz with a family he had never properly met before is all overwhelming and leaves Darius wondering if he’ll ever truly belong anywhere. He’s mocked for his name and nerdy interests at Chapel Hill High School in Portland, Oregon, and doesn’t speak enough Farsi to communicate with his Iranian relatives either. Iranian on his mother’s side and white American on his father’s side, Darius never quite fits in. When Darius’ grandfather becomes terminally ill, Darius, along with his parents and younger sister, travels to Iran for the first time in his life. 12+)ĭarius Kellner suffers from depression, bullying by high school jocks, and a father who seems to always be disappointed in him. Notes glossaries bibliography pronunciation guide. Politically contemporary, and not historically impossible-a rousing good tale. She illuminates the Puritans' concerns with the flesh as well as with the spirit, backing her plot with some facts. Koller's vividly re-created landscape successfully de- romanticizes the early settlers' struggles and avoids the absolutes (us-good, them-bad). Rebekah is no martyr: she chooses true love. Rebekah's attraction to Pawtucket ways-as well as to Mishannock-forces her choice between two cultures. When Rebekah first sees the primitive settlement of Agawam (now Ipswich, Massachusetts), her high spirits are temporarily quelled still, the bright promise of friendship with a young Pawtucket woman, Qunnequawese, distracts Rebekah from the restrictive Puritan life, as do encounters with Mishannock, a tribal holy man who has achieved nearly immortal status among settlers and his own people. In the ``Great Episodes'' series, an improbable but satisfying account of an independent young woman's life among the Puritans in 1633.
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