The Inconceivable Life of Quinn

Starred review from February 6, 2017
Quinn Cutler, the 16-year-old daughter of a writer running for U.S. Congress, is shocked to learn that she’s pregnant: she’s never had sex, at least not as far as she can remember. As word gets out that she’s both pregnant and claiming to be a virgin, devout believers pilgrimage to the family’s Brooklyn home, hoping to see Quinn and even be healed. In a suspenseful and thought-provoking novel, Baer (Frost) tackles the illusiveness of memory (especially in regard to trauma), media firestorms, fear of the unknown, and the complexities of faith, without ever turning didactic or allowing Quinn’s story to fall into melodrama. Amid the growing chaos of her life, Quinn becomes a capable and courageous sleuth in the search for answers; writing in third person, Baer makes readers intimately aware of Quinn’s confusion and conflicted feelings about her pregnancy, as well as the reactions of people close to (and not so close to) her that escalate matters dangerously. It’s a delicate, complicated, and engrossing exploration of the collision between real life and the inexplicable. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

February 1, 2017
Quinn is 16, a virgin--or so she thinks--and pregnant. Miracle or repressed trauma?She's not sure. When a routine OB-GYN appointment reveals her pregnancy at the start of her junior year, white Brookynlite Quinn Cutler can't reconcile her condition with reality. She and her boyfriend have never gone that far. Ultrasound narrows the time of conception to a two-week window in which she has hazy memories of a midnight swim at Holmes Cove, a dangerous stretch of water near her family's long-unused vacation home in Maine. Quinn's grandmother committed suicide at Holmes Cove when her father was a child, and Quinn herself nearly drowned there at age 7. Since then her family's past has been cloaked in lies and deceptions; Quinn knows she was naked at Holmes Cove, but all the memories she does have are filled with joy. Her father's running for Congress, so the family is already in the news, and the idea that Quinn's carrying another Messiah sends pious and possibly unhinged people to camp out on the family's doorstep. Baer's third-person narration alternates among Quinn and several other characters. Quinn's voice is real and believable, and the characters are multifaceted and sympathetic, but an element of magical realism shows up rather late in the long novel, as does important information about Quinn's grandmother and Holmes Cove, and some readers won't last that long. Uneven pacing hobbles an intriguing plot. (Fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Quinn Cutler, 16, is the daughter of an up-and-coming Brooklyn politician. She never thought she would be pregnant. How can she be pregnant when she has never had sex? That is the question Quinn and her family attempt to answer. Things get complicated when a gossipy newspaper article outs Quinn's pregnancy and claims she is a virgin. Suddenly, the family's front stoop is crowded with spectators believing that Quinn is carrying the next messiah. Even she begins to question the true origin of her pregnancy. Was she drugged, or is this the result of something more mysterious? Family secrets reveal a truth buried far in Quinn's past. Her journey is hampered by a sluggish pace and stereotypical characters: the detached older brother, the strict father. Baer explores Quinn's pregnancy mostly through the lens of her family's status in the public eye. However, the teen's more personal emotional and physical experiences are not given due diligence. Treatment of the pregnancy conflict might reinforce negative stereotypes surrounding teen pregnancy. A brief look into Quinn's future soon after she gives up her baby for adoption fails to capture the emotional complexity she surely must have experienced.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2016
Grades 9-12 When Quinn sees her doctor, pregnancy is the last thing on her mind, since she's never had sex. But every test shows the same result: she's pregnant. That's difficult enough, but since her father's campaigning for Congress, suddenly Quinn is a news oddity, the rumor mill is flying, and religious fanatics, who believe she's carrying the second coming, camp out on her Brooklyn stoop. While Quinn avoids the media, she grows more and more curious about the unexpected baby growing inside her and desperately searches for answers. At times, the major threads of Baer's character-driven novel don't mesh well, but there are many intriguing moments, particularly when the zealous followers' faith transforms into scary entitlement. There's a rich cast of secondary characters here, too, such as the compassionate believer who questions what it means to be called to protect someone, and Quinn's kind, rational friends. Though the ultimate payoff is a bit muddled, Quinn's determined struggle to piece together the puzzle compellingly drives the narrative onward, and readers on board for something thought-provoking will be hooked.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)