Girl, unframed

Review by Booklist Review

Caletti is at the top of her game in this fully dimensional mystery. As college student Sydney Reilly unfolds the story of her sixteenth summer in a San Francisco mansion with her movie-star mother, Lila Shore, what begins as a beautifully described moment of sexual awakening takes on Syd's growing feminism and refusal to be anyone's object. Chapter headings hint at the main event by listing exhibits from what we begin to realize is a murder trial. Raised by her maternal grandmother, Edwina, while her mother struggles to revive her flagging career, Syd is reluctant to leave her comfortable life in Seattle and spend the summer with egocentric, childlike Lila--especially with Lila's new boyfriend, shady art dealer Jake, living with them as well. Jake is alternately jealous of Syd's presence and uncomfortably attentive, judging her clothing, her activities, and especially her new boyfriend, Nicco. Tensions build to a riveting and realistic climax that recalls the Lana Turner/Cheryl Crane/Johnny Stompanato incident. With a subtle, believable twist that encapsulates this particular mother/daughter relationship, Caletti delivers the near impossible: a page-turner grounded in thoughtful feminism. There are so many beautiful small touches, from the multiple meanings of the title to the sweet rituals Syd and Nicco develop to the importance of therapy to recover from trauma. Name recognition aside, this is a title deserving wide promotion and discussion.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A brief list of court evidence prefaces each chapter of this suspenseful novel, indicating that a crime will be committed between its pages, which slowly reveal the wrongdoing and its perpetrator. Sydney Reilly, 15, dreads having to leave her Seattle academy to spend the summer with Lila, her movie star mother who is now renting a San Francisco home from her wealthy boyfriend, Jake. Sydney is wary of real estate developer and art collector Jake, a "real man" who shows signs of being abusive, but she adores his German shepherd, Max, who soon becomes her constant companion. She's on the beach with Max when she meets Nicco, a dog lover who offers an exciting, passionate distraction from the fear and uneasiness she feels at home. As her romance with Nicco intensifies, tensions rise between Lila and Jake and their arguments turn more violent. Caletti (A Heart in a Body in the World) offers a riveting, meticulously plotted mystery with plenty of drama alongside an exploration of objectification and the male gaze. San Francisco's sandy beaches, unusual structures, and mysterious caves reflect Sydney's feelings of loneliness, eeriness, and passion, and her eventual sense of power. Ages 14--up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (June)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up--Sixteen-year-old Sydney Reilly is headed home for the summer, although her sexpot actress mother's new house in San Francisco hardly qualifies as "home" for her. Sydney can't shake her sense of foreboding, which intensifies when her mother's new boyfriend is the only one at the airport to greet her. It's going to be a summer that she won't soon forget. Caletti's novel is a brilliant coming-of-age story wrapped in a page-turning thriller. The atmospheric San Francisco setting enhances the overall moodiness, anxiety, and restlessness of a young woman moving from girlhood to adulthood and finding herself under the male gaze for the first time. Sydney's understanding of herself and her place in the world is upended as she deals with best friends, first boyfriends, sexual harassment, and domestic abuse. Caletti's sharp, complex, well-drawn character will compel and delight readers. VERDICT Ultimately hopeful, this is one for fans of realistic contemporary dramas, with a side of mystery, and excellent writing throughout.--Elaine Baran Black, Georgia P.L. Svc., Atlanta

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Review by Horn Book Review

Sydney, a teen raised primarily by her down-to-earth grandmother in Seattle, spends the summer with Lila, her movie-star mother, in San Francisco. Lila's impossibly rich and glamorous lifestyle seems to be at odds with her fading fame. Syd must cope with her mother's ever-hungry ego and volatility and with Lila's mysterious and shady real-estate mogul/art dealer boyfriend, Jake. As Lila and Jake's fights become more frequent and violent, it is clear that their relationship is based more on control than affection. When Syd is immediately smitten with a boy she meets at the beach, Jake becomes obsessively concerned with "guarding [her] virtue." Syd is angered by his attitude and by the salacious behavior of just about every man she comes into contact with. Each chapter opens with a list of courtroom exhibits, and it is clear from the get-go that the story is building to something ominous. The writing is thoughtful and engaging. While the focus of the narrative seems to be Syd's sexual awakening and her determination to be seen and desired on her own terms, Caletti also explores Syd's discovery of the frailty and betrayals of the adult world, often by the very people who are supposed to be taking care of her. Give this page-turner to readers of Elana K. Arnold (Red Hood, rev. 5/20), Courtney Summers (Sadie), and Caletti's previous YA novels (The Last Forever, rev. 5/14, and others). Luann Toth September/October 2020 p.84(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A 16-year-old girl grapples with being objectified by men. Sydney Reilly had a standout school year with her friends in Seattle; the thought of leaving for a summer in San Francisco with her famous mother, Lila, instills dread. She has a deep sense that "it" is about to happen--she isn't sure exactly what, but something large that will change everything. At her mother's ocean-view home, she's alone with Lila and her new boyfriend, Jake Antonetti, a real estate agent--turned--art dealer. By turns needy and unavailable, Lila can seem more like the child than the parent. Syd hides out from Jake and Lila's fights, wandering nearby beaches, where she meets and is immediately drawn to Nicco Ricci. Her desire for him feels all-consuming, and their relationship immediately triggers Jake, who views her virginity as something he must protect. Between Jake, the leering construction worker next door, and creeps in the city, Syd faces a barrage of unwanted male attention. Lists of courtroom exhibits prefacing each chapter provide clues to the climax. Syd thoughtfully processes her burgeoning sexuality and the ugliness that it breeds in men, tracing its effects back to her mother's own experiences. Though the affluent backdrop provides little diversity, Syd's story outlines important, uncomfortable experiences many girls face without either flinching or offering a picture-perfect ending. All major characters are white. A frank, engrossing examination of the ways society complicates young women's burgeoning sexuality. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Chapter OneCHAPTER ONE Exhibit 1: Recorded statement of Sydney E. Reilly, 1 of 5 Exhibit 2: Aerial photo of 716 Sea Cliff Drive Exhibit 3: Photo of Lila Shore, Giacomo "Big Jake" Antonetti, and Sydney Reilly, Original Joe's, North Beach, undated I had a bad feeling, even before I left home. A strong one. If I'm here to tell you what actually happened, well, it started there. With a sense of dread. Like some pissed-off old ghost was going to haunt me until I heard whatever she had to say. It was eerie and unsettling like that. Urgent. The feeling was there late at night, when I was alone in the dorm showers and the hot-water pipes creaked and groaned like a dying man, and it was there when I lay awake in the dark, watching headlights flash across the ceiling in a way that made me pull my covers up. But it was there in bright daylight, too, when Hoodean and Cora and Lizzie and Meredith and I went to Cupcake Royale and we made fun of Hoodean for getting vanilla (he always got vanilla). It was there on those last weeks of school, when the sky was blue and the sun was out and the air smelled delicious. I tried to tell myself there were logical reasons for it. I didn't want to go to San Francisco anyway. I know it sounds crazy, since Lila lived in that Sea Cliff mansion perched above the Pacific. But I was happy at school--just being in class, or walking around Green Lake with Meredith, picking out what dog we'd want. Or sitting on my bed with Cora under my Frida Kahlo poster, playing our favorite songs to each other. Volleyball in the fall, crew in the spring, dim sum in the International District with Meredith's parents. Leaving my friends for the whole summer-- that's why I felt dread, I thought. Especially since things were getting so good lately. I felt like IT was about to happen. I didn't know what IT was, exactly, just something large, something that would change everything. Maybe IT was love, the passionate, all-encompassing kind, or actual sex, or maybe something else. Whatever it was, I wanted it bad, this something-big. I could feel it coming. I could feel it when my group of friends would be walking down the street, elbowing each other, laughing too loud, and people watched us with what I thought was envy. Or when we'd stroll into Victrola and the men would look up from their laptops to stare, even when Hoodean was with us. God, if I missed IT because I was stuck in a jillion-dollar house with my famous mother, I'd be heartbroken. Which was another logical explanation for the dark feeling that followed me. Three months with Lila. She was a celebrity, and she was beautiful, but she was still my mother. The summer before, when I was fourteen, I wanted to tell her everything, to be best buds, to do stuff together. And then suddenly I didn't. Moms--they can be like a winter coat, helpful and warm and cozy, but then spring comes, and it weighs you down and maybe you just want to feel the cold anyway. But I'm supposed to be telling you the truth, aren't I? And the truth is, Lila was never like that. She wasn't a warm and cozy mom like Meredith's, even if I felt the weight of her. And the truth is, nothing made that sense of doom disappear--no explanations, no blue sky, nothing. It was persistent. It was spooky. I didn't know what that feeling was. I didn't know which exact ghost from the past was trying to warn me. But she was real, and I didn't listen. Excerpted from Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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