Bennett Madison

No one has ever looked at Francie without doing a double-take. Everything about her is big – her hair, her make-up, her boobs. Francie’s the kind of girl who ends up wearing the “whore’s raincoat,” an ankle-length lime green coat that is doled out to cover up inappropriate clothing, on her first day at a new school. No one has ever looked at Val twice. Why would they? She’s practically invisible, her hair “brown like something you looked for and looked for and couldn’t find show more until your mom told you to check under your bed, and there it was, crumpled in a dusty corner where you couldn’t reach it” (pg. 4-5. All quote taken from ARC – language may change.) But Francie notices Val. She sees something in her, and soon Val is drawn into Francie’s orbit.There is a delicious hint of magical realism in Madison’s version of suburbia, but it’s not a pretty kind of magic. It’s slippery and sneaky, and a little bit dangerous. The book’s magic centers on two things: Francie and shoplifting. When Val is with Francie suddenly anything is possible, and the Montgomery Shoppingtowne Mall may just hold the most beautiful thing in the world. And the magic changes Val, as she pulls on her stolen motorcycle jacket and uses a heavy layer of eyeliner like armor.Bennet Madison’s character descriptions shine. He has the ability to sum a person up in one biting line. Not much time is spent on Val’s mother, but when she is described as “the kind of person who saw that there was a thunderstorm and went out without an umbrella anyway, because it seemed futile trying to stay dry so why bother” (pg. 75), the reader knows exactly what kind of person she is. And since she is the center of Val’s world, the descriptions of Francie are exquisite:"You should understand that she was not exactly a supermodel. I mean, she was beautiful, but she wasn’t. Yeah, she was tall and blond and booby with amazing legs, but there was something a little funny about her jawline – something square and sharp and almost masculine. Her shoulders were too broad; one eye was just the tiniest bit wonky; her nose had a slight hook; and if you looked closely you could see small blossoms of acne under the crust of her caked-on makeup. It didn’t matter. There was just something about her. If you thought too hard about it, she was almost ugly. But then you looked again, and your jaw would drop.She was a more perfect body pieced together from spares and defectives. From day to day, her appearance was never quite the same. No picture resembled the last. And sometime I wondered if she was replacing her own parts with things she had lifted, one by one. A rhinestone where her left eye should have been. A fist-sized crystal paperweight for a heart. It’s possible that she was a robot or a hologram. But aren’t those things real, too?" (pg. 66-67)And the descriptions aren’t just evocative – they’re something Madison uses to drive the plot. It’s through Val’s shifting descriptions of Francie that we start to see the chinks in her armor and to recognize Val’s growing independance from her friend.I’m always fascinated by a good writer’s ability to make something important by leaving it out. It’s a tough line to walk – how to bring up a subject just enough that the reader recognizes that it is important, but skirt around it so that it is clear that the narrator is avoiding the subject. Val refuses to so much as think about her older brother, Jesse, for much of the book – but she does it in a way that makes it very clear just how important Jesse is. I have seen several mentions of the language in this book. And while I don’t have a problem with the swearing, which I think is used effectively in the narrative, I did cringe at the casually homophobic language. Is it realistic to have a teenager call something they don’t like “gay”? Absolutely. And I certainly recognize that Val and Francie are supremely flawed characters. I think teen readers will recognize that, too. But I do wonder why the author thought it was necessary. (A side note: Am I feeling a little bit uncomfortable calling out an openly gay author about homophobic language? Yep. I really would like to hear his input on this.) Since reading this book I’ve been thinking about why I have such a strong reaction to homophobic language in YA literature. I think it comes down to this: when teens read about Val and Francie shoplifting, they recognize that what the girls are doing is wrong. When a character in a book uses racist language, just about every teen I know is going to recognize that the author is making a choice in using that language, and is going to recognize that the language is hateful and hurtful. From the conversations I hear every day, I don’t think that’s true with homophobic language. To keep my library a safe and comfortable space for all patrons, I regularly try to talk to my young library users when they use homophobic language. In my experience from these conversations, the understanding of why it is wrong just isn’t there yet with a large number of kids and teens. I hope that parents, teachers, and librarians will use this book as a starting point for having these important conversations. And I would love to hear everyone’s input on this issue. show less

September Girls was one of those novels that I really wanted to love, but didn’t. The concept sounded amazing, and I love mermaid stories, so I thought this book would be everything I wanted and more. While I didn’t dislike the book either, there was just nothing that made me love it.

Sam was really off-putting to me and I was actually a bit shocked by some of the things he said and thought. I couldn’t help but think, is this what guys actually sound like when girls aren’t around? I show more seriously hope not. As a person, he was actually pretty sweet, but the way he would express himself was just crasser than it needed to be. The supporting characters are all middle of the road. Some are weird, some are likable and dislikable at the same time, and others are just forgettable.

The plot was another aspect of the novel that I could really take or leave. On the one hand it was an intriguing concept, on the other hand I was bored most of the time. I did like the ending though and the way Madison tied up all of the pieces.

While I did not love or hate this book, I think that die-hard fans of Jackson Pierce’s Fathomless will enjoy it. The books are similar with regard to the plot, although Fathomless is more focused on memory and is a bit of a psychological thriller, while September Girls is more of a light mystery and a bit more character driven. show less

*Braces for impact*

I liked this one, I didn't expect to having read a multitude of reviews that panned it, but I actually liked this one. I will also say that it wasn't perfect but I found it a good read.

It would probably be best described as closer to magic realism than true fantasy, the fantasy is not central to the story, it is an aspect and not as important as the relationship between the characters. It's ultimately a coming-of-age story, Sam's story of a first sexual encounter, of the show more pressures on girls to be one way and boys to be another.

Yes, some of the language is crude, but it comes across as authentic to me and while he starts off thinking of the world in black and white you can see the maturity dawning in him by the end, he makes choices that are more thoughtful of others rather than of himself and he understands that sometimes when you love someone you have to let them go and that you can't make decisions for other people, they have to make decisions for themselves.

Sam meets DeeDee when his father drags him and his brother to a beach town because their mother has gone off to explore herself, which at first Sam finds incomprehensible. In this beach town there are beautiful girls, who seem to be everywhere with ridiculous names, one of them is DeeDee and Sam finds himself entranced by her. As the relationship grows he learns that these girls aren't run-of-the-mill and their secret is big. There's a curse that needs to be broken and he has the key.

Yes there's crude moment and the way Sam thinks at first isn't the way it ends and that's important. His unthinkingness is blatantly wrong and he needs to be a better person before he can be a hero. This is the story of that path. I get what people have had issues with in the story but I found it a rewarding read and did enjoy it. show less

Val, a brunette, has always blended in, never stood out. That is until she meets Francie, a seemingly invincible blonde who takes Val under her wing and shows her that life is for the taking.

For a novel about shoplifting, it’s interesting that shoplifting really isn’t the point. Francie teaches Val how to steal, but in the end, it’s not about stealing the insignificant items that they do from the mall – it’s about finding that Holy Grail of theft – stealing an aura.

As Val show more blossoms (or some might say, self-destructs), Francie starts to fade. It’s a novel about the slipperiness of identity and about betrayal on so many levels. A lot of the details are vague. There’s something wrong with Francie’s mom, Val’s older brother is dying, and a teacher disappears without explanation. But it all fits the mood which is decidedly wistful and melancholic.

A complex, fascinating novel which doesn’t go where you think it will and doesn’t bother tying up loose ends. It definitely makes you think and would make for a great discussion. show less