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The Queen of Everything
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Amazon.com Review
"Nothing like that happens to people like me, not to people like my dad, who changes the oil in his car and pays his bills on time... I mean, imagine it. Your father. Your father. I can tell you, though, it does happen. To people like me." Up until now, 17-year-old Jordan's biggest problem in life was dealing with her hippy-dippy mom, the kind of woman who "might suddenly flop out a boob" to nurse her little brother. She much preferred the company of her calm, measured father, "a Shredded Wheat and All-Bran guy," who never embarrassed her in front of her friends. That's why Jordan is stunned when her nice, divorced dad starts acting like a lovelorn teenager over one of their neighbors, Gayle D'Angelo. True, Gayle is pretty, but she's also married. Too proud to let anyone in their cloistered Pacific Northwest island community know, Jordan decides to handle the situation herself. She tries everything from directly confronting her dad, to dating local thug Kale Kramer in a misguided attempt to gain her father's attention. But nothing seems to work, and when Gayle's husband goes missing and the police name Jordan's dad as a suspect, Jordan's life rapidly spins out of control.
Emotional and intense, Deb Caletti's first book for young adults is reminiscent of other recent teen psychological page-turners like Carol Plum-Ucci's and by Mary Beth Miller. Jordan is a realistic heroine that older female teen readers will sympathize with and cheer for as she struggles to understand this suddenly complex world of adult motivations and desires. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
--This text refers to an alternate
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
The normally stable father of high school junior Jordan becomes involved with a married woman, then kills someone. Told as a flashback through Jordan's first-person narrative (although Jordan does not reveal at the beginning who dies), the novel takes place during the summer on a fictional island in western Washington. Debut YA novelist Caletti peoples Jordan's world with fascinating characters, including a hippie mother who runs a bed and breakfast with her kinetic artist husband, and her best friend, status-focused Melissa, who works with Jordan at a weight loss center run by an eccentric Christian couple. Jordan herself can be funny, making light of her situation with caustic remarks ("He was an optometrist for God's sake" she says when people ask her what her murderous father was like), and also vulnerable ("That's not what people want to hear-that my father was just a normal guy whom I loved, love, with all my heart") as she leads readers carefully towards her eventual realization of her own identity. She also weaves in pieces of advice she's picked up from Big Mama, a wise, warm-hearted fishery worker who often incorporates salmon into her lessons. Two subplots involving Jordan's romantic interests create unnecessary distractions, but captivating details make this scandalous story seem all too real, and Jordan's magnetic voice marks Caletti as a writer to watch. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an alternate
edition.
06/01/2003
Someone told me this book was for young adults, but it had enough adult themes and wisdom to keep me satisfied. It's one of those novels you can read on two levels, and if parents want to get into the minds of their teenagers, they should check this one out. Deb Caletti is a talented, savvy writer.
04/01/2003
confidence. The characters are convincing and likeable. This extremely well written book is very sensitive, humorous, endearing and entertaining! It holds your interest throughout. It was not a book that I could put down once I started it and I read it into the night. When I completed it, I read it again as I didn't want it to end! I could vividly picture the characters and places through Caletti's amazingly compassionate and descriptive words. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read a quality piece of writing. Also, I loved the cover of the book! Very artistic and unusual.
04/11/2002
Jordan is a refreshing and gutsy heroine in Deb Caletti's first young adult book. Jordan has a smart mout h, a "roll your eyes" attitude with most adults (except her beloved grandfather) and enough energy and smarts to give most adults pause. Her mother has gone off and married an artist on some windy hillside, had his bapipe playing brother--at the same time exploring some sexual/emotional curoisities like Kyle Kramer. No one is really prepared for the course her father's relationship gradually takes, nor the grief or anger that comes when the truth is out. Jordan is a wonderful character who speaks in the frustrated language of any adolescent who is swept into a world of adults where there is no longer any control. She handles it all with more maturity than expected--she's definitly the queen of it all.
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 The Encyclopedia of Memory and Memory Disorders (Facts on File Library of Health and Living) Carol Turkington, Joseph R. Harris |
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