Delicate Monsters

Starred review from April 13, 2015
Kuehn’s lacerating third novel centers on three deeply damaged teenagers, the “delicate monsters” of the title. Sadie, the half-Chinese daughter of a well-to-do California vineyard owner, is a sadist who has returned home to Sonoma after her role in the near-death of a classmate at her most recent boarding school. Her classmate and former childhood friend, Emerson, seems more sympathetic at first—it isn’t his fault that his father committed suicide, leaving the family in poverty—but he, too, has dark secrets. Then there is Emerson’s younger brother, Miles: physically and mentally ill, possibly psychic, and a nonstop victim of their high school’s bullies. Amid virtually useless parents, teachers, and counselors, and plenty of alcohol, sex, and pain, these three stagger through the agonies of past and present, hurting each other and others as they go. Kuehn (Complicit) once again proves herself a talented writer in a tough, punishing novel about the damages we inflict on others and the shaky defenses we build to mask trauma and guilt. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

April 1, 2015
Three troubled teenagers. One is as cruel as she pleases, another is riddled with guilt, and the third sees terrifying visions. Their lives intersect and explode in a California town where picturesque grapevines grow and ugly secrets are exposed. Seventeen-year-old Sadie Su arrives at Sonoma High after being kicked out of boarding school-the third time in four years-for almost killing a classmate. Her childhood friend, 18-year-old Emerson Tate, is beginning to fall in love with classmate May and cringes when he realizes Sadie's back in town. Emerson's kid brother, Miles, is a sickly, nervous soul, in and out of hospitals, who fears his worst vision is coming true. During a party, Sadie catches Emerson in an act involving an unconscious May, which reignites a secret she's dying to taunt him with. Grappling with his own demons, Emerson searches for the truth about his father's death. When Miles goes missing, a weary Emerson can't bring himself to care, while Sadie, the most heartless of all, finds herself wondering if there's still hope. Kuehn's prose intensifies in feeling with each page. Her characters' mental anguish and vulnerability take center stage, no excuses allowed, pain and rawness totally exposed. Sexual language and activity reveal the highs and lows of these teens on the edge of despair. A chilling look into heartache and reckless redemption-not for the faint of heart. (Fiction. 14-18)

April 1, 2015

Gr 10 Up-This novel centers on the convergence of the lives of Sadie, a damaged girl who enjoys causing others pain, and Emerson, a boy who's trying desperately to hide the dysfunction inside his family and himself. The novel follows Sadie as she arrives back in California wine country after being expelled from a series of far-flung and expensive boarding schools. Emerson is stunned by her reappearance and unprepared to face the past they shared, which only makes Sadie more interested in pursuing and taunting him. When a life-or-death crisis occurs, both of them must finally face reality, along with their demons. The emotional baggage of the main characters is never fully explained or resolved, but this will not bother teens who enjoy a briskly paced, high-adrenaline narrative full of parties, sex, and fast cars. Overall, Delicate Monsters is an enjoyable read but has no gripping moments or stunning surprises to make it stand up against more compelling novels, such as The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking, 2014) or It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini (Miramax, 2006). VERDICT For avid fans of the author and teens who enjoy honest and often dark tales.-Tara Hixon, Piedmont High School, OK

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Award-winning Kuehn is firing on all cylinders with her latest taut psychological thriller. Booted from boarding school for nearly killing a classmate, 17-year-old Sadie Su returns home to her family's Sonoma wine estate, where she was childhood friends with Emerson Tate, to finish out her education. Now a senior jock with eyes on his crush, Emerson is haunted by his father's suicide and concerned about his brother, Miles, whose overly sickly nature makes him prone to bullyingand worseat school. Kuehn effortlessly switches between Sadie, Emerson, and Miles, unspooling an intriguing entwined story that dips backward and forward, rife with teasing questions that gradually lay bare troubling secrets. Are Miles' visions of the future genuine? What really is the cause of his many medical problems? Is Emerson hiding something? And who's really good anyway? Kuehn kicks it into high gear when Miles disappears, leaving readers hard-pressed to put this one down before reaching the heart-pounding conclusion. Like her previous YA novels, Kuehn's latest benefits from tight construction, expert pacing, and voices that ring especially true for contemporary teenagers, particularly Sadie's entrancing, gleefully acerbic tone. Intelligent, compulsively readable literary fiction with a dark twist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)