Absolute Brightness

Publishers Weekly

Lecesne, the Academy Award-winning writer of the film short Trevor, turns out a stunner of a first novel, using a deliberately leisurely pace to develop a careful view of a smalltown New Jersey community-and then shattering it. Phoebe, the ruminative 15-year-old narrator, is appalled when the orphaned son of her uncle's ex-girlfriend moves in with her fatherless family: it's not just that 13-year-old Leonard shows up in pink-and-green plaid capris, a midriff-baring T-shirt, platform sandals and pierced ears-"I like different. I am different," Phoebe explains to readers-but "something about him seemed to invite ridicule. Like he was saying, go on, I dare you, say something." Soon Leonard wins over Phoebe's mother, who operates a hair salon, and her clients, as he prescribes exactly what they need to release their inner beauty. But before these characters harden into types, the mood blackens, not unexpectedly but nevertheless horrifyingly. Lecesne is an artist with small details, using them liberally both to heighten his characters' world and to plant material whose significance emerges only much later. A somewhat didactic ending does not dim this book's pleasures nor flatten its complexities; readers are still left to wrangle with ambiguities and unmeasured depths. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

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VOYA

AGERANGE: Ages 11 to 18.

The mystery of Leonard Pelkey casts brightness and darkness on the community of Neptune, New Jersey, and in the Hertle household. Frankly observant Phoebe has strong ambivalent feelings about her almost-relative Leonard's colorful arrival into her home and school life. Leonard bonds with her mother's salon customers, providing style and beauty tips that are the talk of the town. Yet he is the ultimate freak and outcast in the school milieu, creating difficulties for Phoebe. When Leonard disappears, the plot races to catch up with a pandora's box of suspicion, fear, and guilt. This madcap narrative is quite lengthy, bordering on rambling, but the marvelous details are engaging, adorable, and also gravely tragic. The detective caper unfolds, meeting the vivid characters of bad-boy Travis, lonely Peggy Brinkerhoff of Shark Lake, the law, and the preacher, not to mention Phoebe's mom, who is overcome by life and the loss of Leonard. The teens created by Jean Ferris and Sarah Dessen come to mind as readers applaud Phoebe and big-sister Deidre's growth as they come to terms with Leonard's murder. Divorce, molestation, the loss of a parent, the war in Iraq, homophobia, and courtroom drama figure into this lively adventure, making it an outstanding read for boys and girls alike. Reviewer: Nancy Zachary
April 2008 (Vol. 31, No. 1)

Children's Literature

AGERANGE: Ages 12 up.

The power of an authentic life is the indelible imprint left in Leonard Pelkey's wake. The youngster shows up suddenly on his cousins' doorstep as welcome as moldy bread. He is given space in the basement, haphazardly fashioned into a bedroom, and bare bones tolerance as the newest family member. The most obvious problem is that Leonard is odd by any measure. To the hyper-sensitive antennae of the early adolescent, he broadcasts a blinding weirdness. To make matters worse, Leonard insists on being himself. He appears not to care that he is the object of scorn and derision. But his cousin, Phoebe, soon realizes that Leonard is not really oblivious. He desperately wants to be liked and accepted, but not at the expense of acting other than he is. The riveting thing about Leonard being himself is that he slyly, engagingly, sincerely, and insistently wants everyone else to be their own true and best selves, too. He works this imperative in his aunt's beauty salon, advising, instructing, and transforming everyone who comes across his path. When he vanishes one night, the transformations, and the absolute sanctity of the self, are his legacy. The poignant cry for tolerance that was Leonard's life echoes long after the last page is turned. It is a good thing that longer books are back in vogue. It would be difficult to tell Leonard's story in a more abbreviated form. This is an important novel that deserves a place in middle school and high school libraries, as well as in the study of contemporary adolescent social life and culture. Reviewer: Hazel Buys

KLIATT - KLIATT Review

Fifteen-year-old Phoebe lives with her beautiful older sister and her divorced mother, who owns a beauty salon next door to their small house. Her father has run off with another woman. Her sister has withdrawn into a shell, and her mother is in an advanced state of denial. Suddenly Phoebe discovers that she has a shirttail cousin and he's coming to live with them because of her uncle's irresponsibility. His name is Leonard Pelkey, he's 14, and he's, well, "swishy," or as he calls it, "being himself." Phoebe is not especially kind to Leonard, but before long he has enchanted all the old lady patrons of her mother's beauty shop with his sense of style and his insistence that everyone needs a makeover. Phoebe, who considers herself worldly wise, often grows impatient with Leonard's vulnerabilities and his refusal to be anyone but his own unique person no matter how much grief he gets from the other kids at school. Then one day, Leonard disappears, and everything changes. In his absence, he seems to be everywhere, and Phoebe wishes she had been a better big sister to him. Although his murdered body is eventually found and the evildoer is discovered, this is not a murder mystery. It's a book that's not afraid to ask the big questions: Why is there evil in the world? How do you combat it? The novel even suggests some answers. This thoughtful novel is beautifully written; its themes are haunting, and in spite of the central tragedy, it's often laugh-out-loud funny. Age Range: Ages 15 to 18. REVIEWER: Myrna Marler (Vol. 42, No. 1)

Judy Beemer

Nothing is what it seems, learns 15-year-old Phoebe the year her almost-14-year-old cousin Leonard Pelkey comes to live with her family. Arriving in pink and green capri pants and homemade platform shoes, Leonard rates "instant reject" status in Phoebe's book. After he disappears, though, Phoebe begins to see him, her family, her best friend, her community, and human nature in a different light. Absolute Brightness is Phoebe's first-person investigation of Leonard's disappearance. Even as Phoebe looks beneath appearances into the dark heart of evil, that voice remains authentically adolescent. A light-hearted study of serious issues, Absolute Brightness will have readers of many ages and interests turning pages, chuckling, wondering, thinking. Reviewer: Judy Beemer

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up- The small coastal town of Neptune, NJ, is thrown for a loop when flamboyant and flashy Leonard, 14, arrives to live with the Hertle family. His cousin Phoebe, 15, resents his inclusion and watches with annoyance as he proceeds to join the high school drama crowd and give her mother's beauty parlor clients makeovers of body and mind. When Leonard goes missing, Phoebe begins to realize that she had not been able to see beyond his six-inch platform sneakers; his love for others and his desire to be loved in return touched the people of Neptune more deeply than anyone had expected. As she struggles to make sense of his disappearance, she leans on Travis, her wrong-side-of-the-tracks boyfriend who had at an earlier time accosted Leonard. This novel touches on myriad sensitive topics, including incest, shoplifting, wounded veterans, abandonment, sexual identity, and hate crimes, giving the book something of a crowded feel. Still, the frank tone of Phoebe's narration and the tragedy of Leonard's abbreviated life will give readers plenty to ponder.-Nora G. Murphy, Los Angeles Academy Middle School

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Kirkus Reviews

Arriving on the Jersey shore, flamboyant Leonard Pelkey stomps into Phoebe's life on platform sneakers and complicates her disconnected family relationships. Befriended by blue-haired old ladies, Leonard's makeover enthusiasm garners him both friends and enemies. When Leonard's body is recovered after his sudden disappearance, Phoebe and her family must address their conflicted feelings about Leonard's murder and his absence in their lives. Armchair detectives, the Iraq war and sexual molestation all crowd their way onto the pages of this meandering narrative. Leonard's enthusiastic personality, though reminiscent of the fabulous Billy Bloom from James St. James's Freak Show (2007), never forges a similar emotional connection with readers and leaves them feeling exhausted. Electra's expositional 11th-hour speech concerning the nature of good and evil is a drastic departure for the character, and seems more pontificating than heartfelt. As a character and narrator, Phoebe's self-involved nature makes her entirely forgettable, and her improbable relationship with Travis, Leonard's killer, is another cheap manipulation. Lecesne's work on the Trevor helpline serves as a beacon of hope, but this bloated narrative clouds the issue of homophobia and teen sexuality. (Fiction. YA)