The Letting Go

May 1, 2018

Gr 8 Up-Emily attends a boarding school run by a free-spirited woman who raised four artsy daughters in their coastal California home; she allowed each one to pursue her learning and talent independently and creatively, resulting in all becoming famous and wealthy. Now the students who populate that house devote themselves to artistic endeavors; and while Emily seeks her own voice as a poet, her study is the life and work of Emily Dickinson. Her fascination for the reclusive mid-19th-century poet relates to her own forced seclusion, hiding from a world repelled and fascinated by the bizarre deaths of her family and friends. This violent end for anyone close to her seems a curse that started with her mother when Emily was four. To defend herself, she lobs insults at anyone who dares smile or offer company, refusing affection, until another Emily joins the school. The girl who goes by M irrepressibly breaches the walls Emily has built around herself. A man is found shot in the back of the head on school grounds, giving M a chance to reach out to Emily, who can't understand how she has caused the stranger's death, but fears herself the culprit somehow. This slow trickle of a novel is told in first-person thoughts and information from Emily's notebooks, many entries with quotations from Dickinson and tidbits about the poet's life. VERDICT This intended mystery focuses too little on whodunit, limiting its appeal to only patient, scholarly readers.-Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018
Emily Stone doesn't get close to anyone: Those she has loved have ended up dead.Teenage Emily--named for her mother's favorite poet, Emily Dickinson--has found refuge at the Hawthorne Academy for Independent Young Women, where she has made it a point to remain aloof from other students, being rude and condescending whenever anyone speaks to her. It's the only way to keep them safe. Emily immerses herself in her independent study of Dickinson; after all, it's safe to love a dead poet. After a man's body is found on school grounds, Emily goes into a tailspin. She didn't know him. Is his death a coincidence? Is it inevitable that death follows her wherever she goes? When Emily meets another student named Emily, who goes by M, she can't resist this smart-mouthed, charismatic, saint-obsessed artist. Knowing what she knows now, can she let M in and keep her safe? Or is she better off pushing M away? From the start, Emily lets readers know she's an unreliable narrator. The story is told through Emily's undated diary entries, each of which is prefaced with a snippet of related work from Dickinson. As the story progresses and Emily feels like she's losing control, the entries appear out of order, adding to the sense that nothing is OK. Only one student of color is called out; all other characters are white.Wonderfully eerie and disorienting. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)

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