Great

January 27, 2014
Adult author and comedian Benincasa (Agorafabulous!) gives The Great Gatsby a biting, genderbent twist in her first book for teens. Standing in for narrator Nick Carraway is Naomi Rye (get it?), a quick-witted 17-year-old who is begrudgingly spending another summer in the Hamptons with her social-climbing, Food Network star mother. Naomi is more comfortable in combat boots than Ferragamo, but she’s quickly drawn into a glamorous world of parties and drama when she’s befriended by neighbor Jacinta Trimalchio, the enigmatic teenage founder of TheWanted.com, the fashion blog every girl wants to be seen on. While Naomi learns to enjoy the newfound attention, it becomes clear that Jacinta needs her to get to up-and-coming model Delilah Fairweather, the novel’s Daisy stand-in. In many ways, this is a very faithful retelling, and any readers who have completed ninth-grade English (or caught the recent Baz Luhrmann film) will have as much fun picking out the parallels and allusions as Benincasa clearly did creating them. And, yes, there’s even a green light on a dock—the charging dock for Jacinta’s laptop. Ages 14–up. Agent: Scott Mendel, Mendel Media Group.

February 15, 2014
Alas, this debut is anything but the titular great, though it could have been pretty good. Naomi feels at home in Chicago, hanging out with her best friend, Skags, and living with her father. So when she spends summers in the Hamptons with her mother, her ratty T-shirts and love of books make her an outsider. But this summer, things are different. She's actually friendly with Delilah Fairweather, senator's daughter and up-and-coming model. She's got her first boyfriend, the dorky yet popular Jeff. Things are good with her mother. And then there's Jacinta Trimalchio, fashion blogger and Naomi's next-door neighbor. She's mysterious and different, and Naomi likes her. But Jacinta has many secrets and one obsession: Delilah Fairweather. And that obsession will lead to scandal, an accident and death. This retelling of The Great Gatsby--especially with the "edgy" twist of a lesbian relationship between Jacinta/Gatsby and Delilah/Daisy--disappoints, as the story's original elements are good enough that riding Fitzgerald's coattails isn't necessary. Naomi's voice and character are engaging, and her relationships with Jeff and her mother provide plenty of fodder for a coming-of-age novel. The Gatsby elements are the weakest, from the character types to the plot. Read this for Naomi and try to forget The Great Gatsby. (Fiction. 12-16)

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April 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-A reimagined, gender-bending The Great Gatsby set in modern times. Narrator Naomi Rye lives in Chicago with her dad but spends every summer with her mother, a Food Network star, in East Hampton. Usually, Naomi's summer social life is limited to a few parties that she attends with her mom. This time, the teen arrives to find that a new neighbor, Jacinta Trimalchio, has moved in by herself next door. Jacinta is known among rich Hamptons denizens as an infamous fashion blogger. She hopes to reconnect with Delilah Fairweather through her new friendship with Naomi. The fashionista hosts fabulous parties and eventually ignites a close relationship with Delilah. This is a story of indulgence, with teenagers consuming alcohol and drugs and driving while under the influence. A car accident in the climax scene closely parallels the original. Lies, gossip, and intrigue figure prominently in the plot. No new ground has been forged in this work, so stick with F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic.-Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Jefferson, LA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2014
Grades 9-12 Great, as in Gatsby, is a teenage rendering of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel, in which the East Hampton setting replaces West Egg. Naomi Rye, who lives with her high-school coach father in Chicago and summers with her Food Network cupcake-star mother, supersedes the midwestern next-door neighbor Nick Carraway. Each Great Gatsby character has its teen counterpart, as does each plot twist, party, and aftermath. Benincasa plays with gender and sexuality but otherwise sticks to the classist story line, with one noteworthy exception. Studies abound regarding the critically important Nick, his veracity and, therefore, his appeal as a narrator, not to mention his ironic tone. Conversely, Benincasa crafts the character of Naomi to read as sincere and good, qualities that are scoffed at as midwestern by the affluent, private-school Hamptons crowd. It is her honest relationships with tragically unbalanced friends that provide the reader with a moral compass for taking this famously raucous summer journey.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)