Devorah, a Hasidic Jew, and Jaxon, son of West Indian
immigrants, meet in a Brooklyn elevator during a hurricane. They’re trapped for
over an hour when the electricity goes out and the connection they form takes
them both by surprise. When they learn that they live very close to each other,
they risk their social statuses and their families’ trust in order to be
together.
It would be a stretch to call Devorah and Jaxon star-crossed
lovers as they barely know each other, and their story unfolds in the course of
one month, but LaMarche certainly captures the urgency and excitement of first
love, and the wonder of a whole new world opening up beyond every day life. The
story is told in alternating first person, and while Jaxon’s sections are
smooth and easily readable, Devorah’s often get bogged down with awkward
first-person explanations of her lifestyle and family rituals. Her life is
interesting and she is a sympathetic character, but her narrative feels jerky
and uneven. Because the timeline is so compressed, tensions are high and drama
is easily created, but the story doesn’t have much room to breathe and all of
the plot points feel very carefully contrived. Like No Other is a fascinating glimpse at a world that is likely
unfamiliar to most teen readers with a romance that they’ll want to root for.
Cover Comments: This is a nice cover. I like the colors. I feel bad because it looks so much like the Eleanor & Park cover that the comparison is inevitable.
ARC provided by publisher.
1 comment:
Great review. I see what you mean about the cover. It has that Eleanor & Park feel.
The premise sounds interesting though.
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