Tammar Stein

Miriam is a college freshman left behind during spring break. While in her room one night, studying, Miriam comes in contact with a light so bright and powerful that is makes her physically ill. This light tells her, in ancient Hebrew no less, that it is her task to save Tabitha. Problem is, she has no clue who Tabitha is. After finding this mystery girl and taking on the task (and failing in her own eyes), Miriam is left tortured. She is losing weight and becoming ill and let‘s face it, show more after you’ve been visited by an archangel and given a mission from God … college is kind of trivial.

After a visit from her twin brother, Mo, and his stark revelation that he is been recruited by the devil himself, Miriam decides to drop out of school in order to come to terms with everything. She scores a journalist job in the small Civil War town of Hamilton, Tennessee and things only get worse from there: another task is set upon her, she struggles with her faith and her health grows poorer by the day.

Kindred really drew me in and I quickly read my way through it, which is shocking since it is a bit on the theological side of things and religious fiction is not my favorite thing. As Kindred is written from Miriam’s point of view, we spend a great deal of time in her head so we witness all her grapples, thoughts and doubts regarding what she is doing, her concerns about Mo and her (re-)developing faith. Her divorced parents help her out a bit here (her father is a Rabbi and her mother an ex-nun, and both are professors theology) as well as Emmett, a newfound friend.

As most of you know, I really have a thing for angels and demons (the more the merrier, I always say) but it was actually refreshing to read a book that dealt with those beings but didn’t put them at the forefront (can’t believe I just said that lol). Sure, this book is considered paranormal but really it’s about a troubled girl struggling with God and a disease that debilitates her. I won’t say this was one everyone should rush out a read, because it does deal a good bit with religion and I think it will only appeal to certain people, but even I, a polytheist, rather enjoyed it so that’s got to say something.

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Terrorism, survivor’s guilt, culture shock and the college experience are all things Maya Laor experiences during this novel. The first two pages of the book describe a suicide bomber and conclude with “I ruined his life. So he ruined mine.” Over the course the book the chapter’s alternate between Maya joining the Israeli army as all eighteen year olds are required to do and two years later when she is first starting college at the University of Virginia. The book slowly reveals who show more the suicide bomber was and his connection to Maya, while simultaneously tracking her new life and grieving process in Virginia. There is a poignant theme of not making assumptions about cultures or individuals you do not. Through both Maya’s initial hesitance with her American roommate and her description of Israel as a familiar place, the author is able to show the downfalls of judging a book by its cover. The first person narrative is written in past tense and has pretty simple sentence structure that can get repetitive. The writing style veers a little young, but the adult content or drugs, alcohol, sex and violence would suit an older teen audience. Recommended. show less

I don't usually read YA fiction, but I met Tammy on a vacation and was impressed that she had had a book published already. I see why, now that I've read it. It's amazingly well-written and well-constructed for such a young author. In alternating chapters, she creates the heroine's life in the Israeli army and at UVA (such very different worlds!) in concrete detail, both physical and emotional. Tammy has another book on the way, I see - and I suspect it's not the last. She has a bright show more publishing future ahead. show less

Arden Vogel is 19 and an Army brat, moving every few years. She last lived in Germany and now attends Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Her mother is a nurse, deployed to Iraq. Her father was killed in an auto accident three years earlier. Arden's only contact with her mother is two 15-minute phone calls a week and their daily e-mails. In between those communications, she doesn't know whether or not her mother is alive.

During their honeymoon, her parents bought a vacation home on the show more island of Sardinia. With her father's death, her mother decided to sell the house because it doesn't mean what it used to mean. Since her mother is overseas, it is left to Arden to clean out the house. On her flight to Italy, she meets up with three girls attending the University of Texas who are touring Europe for the summer. They invite her to join them in France, which, uncharacteristically she does.

Since her father's death, Arden has become more withdrawn, not making friends as easily as she did prior to his death. During her stay in France with Lola, Kate and Madison, she feels more and more of an outsider. After an argument with Lola, Arden departs for Sardinia without saying goodbye.

Stein, author of the well written Light Years, has tackled the topic of children whose parents are deployed in war zones. Readers will feel Arden's uncertainty and fear for her mother, especially since her father died. They can understand her solitude, her feelings of being an outsider but wanting friends and love and family. Stein does a nice job of illustrating that all people have issues of one sort or another, inlcuding the three Texans, who appear to live ideal lives. The characters and diologue are realistic.

Tammar Stein is an author to watch and whose books should be on school and personal reading lists. show less