The She

in a sentence or two: Evan Barrett is haunted by the cloudy memories surrounding the death of his parents, and wants some real answers as to what really happened to his mom and dad on their last night at sea. he has faint, yet terrifying, memories of a horrible screeching coming from the sea - from a local legend he once firmly believed in called simply 'the she'...

okay first of all, how cool is the title / cover of this book? regardless of my immense enjoyment of "the body of christopher creed" by the same author, i probably would have snatched this off the shelves of the library based on the sheer creepiness of the cover. that, and the intrigue of a sea-monster...

Evan's parents disappeared when he was young. note, i say disappeared, show more not died...necessarily. there is a big fat cloud of mystery surrounding their last night at sea, and Evan, his brother Emmett, his aunt Mel, and his grandpa (opa) have all come to their own separate conclusions about what happened that night and why. Evan was never really sure what his theory was, mainly because his memories were suppressed for the most part until Grey slipped him some acid at a party...whoops. Emmett and aunt Mel have much more 'factual' opinions as to what happened, while Evan is increasingly convinced that 'the she' is responsible for what happened to his parents.

now enter Grey - the girl who slipped Evan acid at a party without his knowledge. she too experienced something very similar to what Evan remembers...the screeching that only they could hear that happened right before someone died. that's right, only SOME people can hear the creeptastic screeching from 'the she', and it only happens when someone (typically a romantic couple, because apparently 'the she' gets jealous of lovers-on-the-sea) is about to meet their doom. while Evan lost his parents, Grey lost a person she hardly knew after her boat tipped and sucked the young girl to her death care of 'the she'. that event (as well as some unpleasant family history) bumped Grey into the mental hospital where she's trying to become a better and healthier person as well as discover what the heck is going on with 'the she'. of course, Grey and Evan join forces...though a bit reluctantly and awkwardly at first. he's still not over that whole i-slipped-you-acid thing.

Plum-Ucci weaves a very intriguing story. she uses broken characters to create a mystery/coming of age hybrid that keeps you intrigued while genuinely caring about what happens to the characters. it's a tough line to walk, and at some points in the story, it begins to show. for the most part however, the balance is attained through the discovery of self and discovery of the mystery of the she. the characters discover just as much about themselves as they do anything else in the story.

i was honestly able to feel the haunting presence of 'the she' at times while reading this. the descriptions of the sea, the houses, the boats, and everything else is so vivid and realistic that you feel sucked into the little sea-side town. i cared about the people and i cared about what was discovered about 'the she'. i can't say i was surprised at the ending, especially after having read one of her books before, but i did appreciate the compromise of solution that she came to to explain it all. overall, a pretty darn good read.

fave quote: "I want to jump through the radio to get to my mom's screaming Maydays, and I want to bolt upstairs to get Emmett. I end up backing out slowly, hearing The She until she has almost overpowered my mother's voice, which is screaming. The sound is all through me then, coming from the sky, the beach, the radio." (13)

fix er up: i was a bit irritated at referring to high-fives as 'skinning'...as in, he held his hand up for me to skin it, so i did. sometimes attempting to use teenage vernacular in stories really bugs me. also, like i previously mentioned, at times the story lost a bit of it's balance by focusing too much on the relationship between Evan and Grey - but that was an interesting sub-plot none the less. show less

Reviewed by Mark Frye, author and reviewer for TeensReadToo.com

Carol Plum-Ucci has established a niche for her mysteries by blending realism and the unexplained. Following upon the success of THE BODY OF CHRISTOPHER CREED and WHAT HAPPENED TO LANI GARVER?, the author penned a credible tale that is part problem novel and part supernatural thriller. THE SHE takes the reader to familiar territory in young adult fiction--death, drug abuse, rebellion against authority, and dysfunctional families--while also presenting a haunting overtone that prevails from the first page to the last.

As a child, Evan overheard his parents' death at sea from the radio in their bedroom and continues to struggle with the circumstances that claimed their lives show more over ten years later. Were they drug smugglers who faked their death only to escape the authorities? Or were they the victim of a legendary sea monster rumored to have caused many shipwrecks along the neighboring shores?

As he struggles to find the truth, he is joined by an unlikely female ally, a mentally-unstable "wild child" named Grey. Evan distrusts her initially due to their "bad history," but mutual sympathy and affection grows as they realize they both need to discover the truth about the local legendary sea monster, known only as "The She."

As in her earlier novels, Plum-Ucci presents likeable anti-heroes as her main characters. Evan is popular at school but rebellious; Grey is infamous and feared, a practitioner of cruel jokes. They are the kind of characters one is drawn to, despite parental wishes. As their own tangled pasts are unwound, they grow more and more sympathetic to each other and the reader.

Another subplot is Evan's relationship with his brother, a source of tension in his life. The brothers ongoing debate about their parents disappearance represents the dichotomy of rationality/skepticism vs. curiosity/faith; the reader will identify with both sides of this "coin." We are drawn to believe in myths and legends, but steeped well enough in the 21st-century to want a rational explanation for the unexplained. Each of them is forced to confront the other's point of view at critical junctures of the story, leaving the reader in suspense. Is there a sea monster? Or is there a rational explanation for their parents' disappearance?

This tension remains to the very end of the novel, making it an enjoyable page-turner. It comes highly recommended. show less

The She is thriller that takes place along and off the South Jersey shore. Something called Ella Diablo Agujero (she-devil of the hole) has been eating boats to freighter ships for over a century. Since Evan Barrett was a child he can sense and hear when The She is present. "My dad says he believes in something out there, though he doesn't say it when Mom's around, because she starts in on him. I don't talk about The She, but I'm always listening, waiting." (page 8) One night when Evan is nine he hears his parents on the ship to shore radio as something takes their freighter and sucks it under. The story does a fast forward to Evan, who is now seventeen, and living with his older brother Emmett. Evan is sent to visit Grey, a classmate show more who has checked herself in to a mental-health facility after a boating accident. Evan and Grey begin to help each other with their personal demons and nightmarish experiences. The She treads a creepy line between reality and the unexplained and possibly supernatural. Is there a rational explanation for The She, or is there a hungry and jealous being in the deep sea? show less

In The She Even, was young when his parents died in a boating accident - and I mean a freighter, not a little boat - and now that he's 17, he finds he hasn't coped with it. His ever-so-logical brother is telling him a version of the events he can't stomach. And then of course, there's this popular girl... If you've read Carol Plum-Ucci's award wining (and deservedly so) The Body of Christopher Creed, you can imagine what is coming.

The She is a decent book, but compared to The Body of Christopher Creed it's a let down. It travels some of the same themes as Christopher, but the characters are not as engaging or likable.

I've read The Body of Christopher Creed and What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci, and I have to say I liked this one about the same.

Plum-Ucci has a way of mixing teen problems with almost-supernatural mysteries. I've long ceased expecting any definite conclusions to come from her work. While there was A LOT of talking in this book, I give props to the characters. The characters in this book, particularly Grey, and complex and endearing. The plot was a little slow, and I wasn't at the edge of my seat, but by the end of the book I was certainly absored. And I still have oh so many questions.

If you liked other books by the author, than you will like this one.

Impressed by setting and the storytelling. Great to see characters talking about big things like belief systems, capitalism v socialism. And gripping, too!

Compelling read. Keeps you guessing. Evan believes his parents were eaten by the sea monster, The She, off the coast of New Jersey. Emmett, a philosophy doctorial candidate, believes his parents were smuggling drugs and got caught in a hurricane off the coast of Florida. Grey, a young girl with a drug dealing moffia father that prostituted her, has just recently watched a girl sucked into the ocean during a sailing accident.