It’s been a long time since I fell for a character quite this hard. I love May. She is one of the most flawed (and wounded) middle school protagonists I have ever read. Which endears her to me completely.
May is well on her way to juvenile delinquency, and Cecilia Galante perfectly conveys the bitter, defiant attitude of a teenager whose actions are quickly spiraling beyond her control.
Her circle of loved ones is bleak, the entire family separately nursing the wounds left behind by her mother. A grandmother who rarely leaves her bed, haunted by guilt and living in memories. A father, rarely home, whose pain and anger clash with May’s in shouting matches that reverberate through the projects where they live.
When May is ‘sentenced’ to summer school with the teacher she most despises, Movado ‘the Avocado,’ she is a coil of pent up rage. As she puts in her time with Movado, discovering things like “imagery” and “personification,” her anger does not lessen. But she does, very slowly and believably begin to find her voice.
The tone and pacing of this novel is perfect. May’s journey to understand herself and to discover the underlying factors behind her mother’s choice to leave her is wonderfully true to life. The emotional lives of May’s family, her teacher and her absent mother are revealed through actions perfectly nuanced and sometimes harshly raw.
The only bit I didn’t love was May’s too perfect best friend Olive, who spouts words of wisdom parroted from her mother (a life coach) and behaves in general like a 30-yr-old mentor might. I liked her, I just didn’t love her.
The tension, both inside May and between her and her family members, carries the reader along on a wave that swells with pain and glimmers with hope. May’s actions and feelings always make perfect sense, right up until the turning point, and the resolution is a satisfying balm.
I just reserved The Patron Saint of Butterflies and I am greatly looking forward to it!
11/23/11 UPDATE: I’m adding this book to my Newbery Contenders! I’m frankly surprised I haven’t seen it on other mock Newbery lists…
[...] But I had to bring it up again here since it is one of the few that I’m saying Yes! to. http://bubandlala.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/the-summer-of-may/ GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]