Unbecoming by Jenny Downham

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Bibliography
Downham, J. (n.d.). Unbecoming. New York: Findaway World.

Plot summary
This story follows three women all with different obstacles to encounter. Katie, her mother Caroline, and Grandmother Mary have secrets that will unravel. Katie is battling with her sexuality and the repercussions of kissing her best friend Esme. She tries to make the incident pass even by laughing at a girl that has come out. Caroline has to deal with raising her family and taking care of her youngest son who has special needs. Thus she is very controlling and a lot of kept anger. She is trying to keep it together after her husband has left her for a younger woman. Mary has dementia and her partner Jack has passed away. Since there is no one to take care of her responsibility lands on Caroline. Katie tries to help Mary not forget since her mother does not put much effort. As the story continues one comes to understand the relationship between Caroline and Mary. Katie as well begins to come to terms with her sexuality.

Critical Analysis
This family drama novel is laced with realism. The setting is in England and the reader can tell by the text. This reading would be for young adult readers. It follows the story of three generation women each facing their own struggles. Secrets begin to unravel and they must learn to deal with the situations they counter. Each have complex issues they have gone through or will have to. The characters make the reader keep turning pages with relevant issues that many face in real life. 
One of the main characters Mary is losing her memory and her partner has just passed away. She has moments in which she remembers things and Caroline tries to put pieces of stories together to make sense. Mary got pregnant from a married man and decided to let her sister Pat raise her daughter Caroline. Mary regretted her decision, but Pat kept Caroline away from her.

Caroline affected from her past is an over protective mother. She has been left by her husband and has to raise a teenager and a son with a disability. Caroline believed that her mother was Pat and her husband. Mary eventually showed up and took her away. Caroline has been trying to not make the mistakes her mother made, but sometimes she does the exact same thing.

Katie is struggling with her sexual orientation. She also has to deal with the after math of kissing her best friend Esme and the rumors that resulted. It’s a time in which liking the opposite sex is not easy which in some parts of the world this has not changed and is not accepted. She tries to deny her feelings since she sees how an openly gay girl is treated. Katie even goes as far as dating a boy. Katie by the end of the book comes to realize who she is.

The text does well in articulate the feelings, ideas, thoughts, and arguments from each character. There are not many culture markers or at least I am having difficulty right now identifying them. Besides the language that is used there is not much I can point out. It is a book that takes about current things that young adult readers might be going through.

Review Excerpts
A Stonewall Honor Book
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Bookpage Best Teen Book of the Year

Kirkus Reviews: "Her prose gets right down inside human fragility, tenderness, fury, gusto, and strength -- leaving sweet, sharp images that are impossible to forget. Exceptional."

Horn Book: "Downham's third novel offers implicit commentary on the historical and contemporary constraints on young women's lives and their freedom to love with abandon."

Publishers Weekly: "Extraordinary."

Connections
Books with similar message: 
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden ISBN13: 9780374404147
Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters ISBN13: 9780316009850
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour ISBN13: 9780525425885

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