Overview
"IF SHE DIES, I'll die," are the words 15-year-old Mia Perlman writes in her journal the night her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Nine days later, Mia's mother is dead, and Mia, her older sister, and her father must find a way to live on in the face of sudden, unfathomable loss. But even in grief, there is the chance for new beginnings in this poignant, funny, and hopeful novel.From the Hardcover edition.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Anyone who has grieved the loss of a loved one will feel an immediate connection to Mia, the narrator of this intimate novel. Mia is a freshman at the Bronx High School of Science when her mother dies 12 days after being diagnosed with cancer. During the next several months, life falls back into a routine, but everything that Mia experiences—meeting new people, watching her father fall in love again, and discovering the difference between infatuation and love—is accompanied by a sense of longing. Haunted by memories of her mother, Mia is feeling particularly vulnerable when tragedy strikes a second time, as her father suffers a heart attack. His subsequent bypass surgery goes well; nonetheless, Mia remains painfully aware of the consequences of mortality. Not until she befriends a cancer survivor does she begin to trust in life again. Despite its title, this novel does not offer a "cure" for Mia's heartbreak. Rather, it gives readers a keenly insightful study of grief. Rabb balances sorrow with humor, and sprinkles quotes by renowned writers on the subjects of love and loss as additional food for thought. The author, who like Mia lost her mother as a young adult, writes with authority and precision. Ages 14-up. (Feb.)
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.VOYA -
Mia Pearlman's mother enters the hospital complaining of a stomachache, and twelve days later, she dies of melanoma. Her death leads Mia on a journey of memories, disastrous dates, and ice cream, which is interrupted when her father suffers a heart attack. Alex, Mia's gifted, sometimes antagonistic sister, leaves for college four months later, leaving Mia and her father alone to embark on both physical and emotional recoveries. Although the Pearlmans are not devoutly religious, their Jewish traditions play a strong part in their reactions to events that unfold from medical traumas, both theirs and those of the people they meet in the hospital. Throughout the book, Mia has positive encounters that stem from sad events, including making a new, close friend and taking her first hike with a sensitive, intelligent cancer survivor. This book could easily have been overwhelming given the mother's death, Mia's recurring company of terminally ill people, and her failed romances. Instead Rabb produces a witty, matter-of-fact, and heartfelt look at what grief means to one teenager, and how the relationships and habits Mia acquires help her to accept change. The light, everyday comedy born of a series of disasters prevents the book from becoming maudlin. Peripheral characters are delightfully, even frighteningly, real in their details. The Pearlman family, although always just this side of dysfunctional, is loving and supportive in their own way. Teens looking for a tearjerker, a romance, or an unexpected comedy will find much to enjoy here.KLIATT -
This novel is based on the author's own experience when her mother died after a nine-day illness. The protagonist here is Mia, 15 years old and stunned by her mother's death. Mia's mother had gone into the hospital with a stomachache and emerged 12 days later in a coffin, a victim of cancer. Mia cannot quite take it in and doesn't know how to act. Equally stunned and equally confused are her father and older sister Alex, and the three are somewhat at odds about how they should carry on and absorb this shattering event into the context of their lives. Mia finds her grief both embarrassing and overwhelming. She doesn't know whether to date or stay home. She doesn't know how to behave around her friends at school. She doesn't know how to treat her father. She does know her mother and father's relationship was not perfect and that her mother was an imperfect woman, and yet no one can speak the truth of the past to each other. Eventually, Mia's father becomes engaged to a woman wildly different from her mother and Mia must cope with the reality of the new relationship. That she does so realistically and complexly is a testament to the author's experience in dealing with the same issue and the many unexpected feelings that come into play. The language and voice are compelling. Relevant and thoughtful quotations head every chapter. The characters are fully formed and when the last page turns, four new and fascinating people have been born into the reader's consciousness.Children's Literature -
Just days after receiving a cancer diagnosis, fifteen-year-old Mia Pearlman's mother is dead. Mia and her mom were two of a kind, loving fashion and shopping more than Mia's dad and older sister ever could ("Bloomingdale's was a spiritual homeland."). Within months of Mia's mother's death, her father has a heart attack and bypass surgery, leaving Mia worried about becoming an orphan and dwelling on loss when other kids her age are just enjoying high school life: "People died every day, didn't they? Every minute. While we'd been sitting here hundreds of people had died. Hundreds of families were getting their hearts torn out. I couldn't fathom it. I wasn't sure how it was possible, really, all these people all over the world quietly grieving. You'd think that if everyone was going through this, you'd see them all on the street in a communal howl. There'd be grief riots . . . and grief spas. Grief mud masques. Grief nail polish." Mia's matter-of-fact commentaries, hovering between anger, hope, humor, and grief, manage to keep the novel light in spite of its subject matter. The narrative, however, can seem somewhat choppy and repetitive, making each chapter (most of which have been previously published separately elsewhere) feel more like a well-crafted short story than a contribution to a cohesive story arc. Overall, though, Rabb's highly autobiographical debut is a well written study of the effects of unimaginable loss on a bright, normal, likable teenager.School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up
Black humor, pitch-perfect detail, and compelling characters make this a terrific read, despite the pain that permeates every superbly written page. Ninth-grader Mia has just lost her mother to cancer, and now her father is hospitalized with heart trouble. The story follows her first through bleak days at the hospital, then as she copes with her grief for her mother, her father's new girlfriend, and her sometimes disastrous attempts to find love. Interwoven throughout the book are Mia's musings over her family's history and the continuing tragic impact of the Holocaust. The novel's vivid New York City setting is almost another character, with vibrant descriptions of subway rides, shopping trips, and local color. Mia's early experience with loss influences everything about her life, from her bond with her father and older sister to her troubles with school and relationships. As she struggles to make sense of her mother's death and her father's illness, she also sees humor in everyday situations, and her irreverent commentary brings the story to life. Mia's romance with Sasha, a young man whose leukemia is in remission, is especially moving. A touching afterword reveals just how closely the novel follows the author's actual experiences.
—Miranda DoyleCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.