The You I've Never Known

Starred review from October 24, 2016
Once again tackling difficult subject matter through elegantly crafted free verse, Hopkins (Traffick) tells the story of 17-year-old Ariel; her father, Mark; and Maya, also 17, who jumps into a relationship with an older man to escape her mother. Mark is an alcoholic drifter, prone to angry and violent outbursts. He has finally settled down long enough for Ariel to finish an entire school year in Sonora, Calif., where Ariel has allowed herself to develop real friendships and even consider the possibility of finding love. Hopkins uses spare yet poignant language to convey Ariel’s simultaneous joy and fear as she begins to explore her sexuality (“the need to embrace/ this part of myself/ is escalating”) while dealing with an abusive, homophobic, and controlling parent. Maya, whose chapters are written in first-person prose, intersects with Mark and Ariel’s lives in an unexpected way, deepening the story’s exploration of identity. Hopkins creates a satisfying and moving story, and her carefully structured poems ensure that each word and phrase is savored. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary.

December 15, 2016
One teen yearns for roots while another will do anything for a fresh start. Seventeen-year-old white Ariel has been in Sonora, California, for 15 months, and she's soaking up the stability. Her whole life, she's moved quickly from town to town as alcoholic Dad flits from woman to woman, claiming he was born "infected / with wanderlust." He abuses and gaslights her. He has a "greedy grasp" and would never allow Ariel to date a boy, let alone allow her--his white daughter--to date her best friend, Monica, a Mexican-American lesbian. Dad's racist, and to him, "queer equals vile" because Ariel's mother left them for a woman when Ariel was 2 and hasn't been heard from since. Yet Ariel's falling for both Monica and a boy named Gabe. In another thread, 17-year-old Maya, also white, plans to prevent her abusive mother from trapping her in Scientology's paramilitary training arm by getting pregnant by a 27-year-old man she meets in a bar so he'll marry her. Ariel's sections are free verse (Hopkins' specialty), their fragmentation symbolizing and mirroring the fragmentation in Ariel's history. Maya's sections are prose; the prose itself flows capably, but the variation from Hopkins' signature format doesn't contribute anything particular. Faraway characters in Hopkins books often come together, but Maya and Ariel's connection is among Hopkins' best. A page-turning exploration of independence, powerlessness, and secrets, with groundbreaking representation of bisexuality and queerness. (Verse fiction. 14 & up)

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January 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Ariel and her father, an abusive, homophobic alcoholic, never stay in one place very long. Miraculously, though, they have spent Ariel's entire junior year in Sonora, CA, and she hopes that, for once, they can stick around. Here, she has finally experienced a bit of stability and made friends. She has also begun to explore her sexuality with both new guy Gabe and Monica, her "queer Mexican American" best friend. Ariel keeps her feelings for Monica from her father, who never lets her forget that her mother left them when Ariel was two to "run off with her lesbian lover." The teen longs to break free from her father's control and be herself-whoever that is. Seventeen-year-old Maya, a Texan whose cold and abusive mother is increasingly involved in Scientology, seeks escape, too, and she finds it when she meets Jason, 10 years her senior; gets pregnant; and marries. But Jason has an escape plan of his own, one that will bring Ariel's and Maya's stories together in a startling way. Themes of identity, family, and truth are interrogated as readers slowly learn more about Ariel and Maya. Writing in verse (Ariel's tale) and prose (Maya's), Hopkins uses skillful pacing and carefully chosen words to conceal the most important truth of the novel. The reveal arrives just as readers may be putting the pieces together themselves. VERDICT A sharp, gripping read sure to please Hopkins's legions of fans.-Amanda MacGregor, formerly at Great River Regional Library, Saint Cloud, MN

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