So Shelly

Publishers Weekly

Roth's imagining of poets Keats, Byron, and Shelly (a blending of Percy and Mary) in the present day centers almost exclusively on Byron, known as Gordon, despite being narrated by Keats. Following Shelly's apparent suicide, Gordon and Keats steal her ashes and, fleeing Shelly's sexually abusive father, they take a boat out on Lake Erie to fulfill her last wishes. Most of the story consists of Keats relaying Gordon's past adventures, including being sexually abused by his nanny, publishing a YA vampire book, seducing many women—including his cousin and possibly his half-sister—and briefly joining a Greek terrorist squad. Shelly is Gordon's neighbor and childhood best friend, but his feelings for her have remained platonic while she has fallen in love with him; Keats is Shelly's trusted friend, though there are only glimpses of that friendship. Despite the intriguing premise, excessive back-story and rehashing of Gordon's sexual conquests (however accurately they might resemble Lord Byron's) can grow tiring. But though readers may struggle to see past Gordon's unlikable personality, Shelly's ultimate wishes for Gordon and Keats provide satisfying closure. Ages 14–up. (Feb.)

Children's Literature - Elizabeth D. Schafer

Death torments rising high school senior John Keats, who cites facts regarding diseases and accidents associated with mortality, including those relevant to his parents' demises and his older brother's tuberculosis. Narrator Keats is fixated on two classmates, George Gordon Byron and Michelle "Shelly" Shelley, with whom he interacts on their school's literary magazine staff. Gordon and Shelly are reminiscent of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jazz Age characters, living privileged, entitled, careless lifestyles in their affluent Lake Erie community. Keats runs away with Gordon after they grab the urn holding Shelly's ashes from her memorial service. As the pair evades capture, Keats provides characters' histories, recalling information Shelly had confided in him. An aspiring writer, Keats is enthralled with Gordon's flamboyant escapades and best-selling book achievements. Nothing frightens hedonistic Gordon, who revels in bedding females (even incestuously) by flaunting his exquisite physique and arrogantly discarding conquests, ignoring damage he provokes. Shelly is obsessed with causes such as Native American rights, exposing her vulnerabilities while intensely voicing opinions and protesting injustices. She loves the self-absorbed Gordon and is wounded by his rejection. Keats comprehends heartbreaking betrayals which are the catalysts for Shelly's downfall. Readers will be swept along with the fast-paced plot as Gordon's outrageousness builds tension and truths about Shelly's suicide are divulged. Imagery effectively conveys characters' unsettled, disrupted natures, as well as the frequently nocturnal or remote settings where their resilience is tested. The author's note outlines biographical details regarding Romantic poets he appropriated to shape this novel and provides recommended bibliographical resources. Read with Gregory Galloway's As Simple as Snow (2005) and John Green's Looking for Alaska (2005) and Paper Towns (2008). Reviewer: Elizabeth D. Schafer

VOYA - Amanda McFadden

Until now, high school junior John Keats has only tiptoed near the edges of the vortex that is schoolmate, and literary prodigy, Gordon Byron—that is, until their mutual friend, Shelly, drowns in a sailing accident. After stealing Shelly's ashes from her wake at Trinity Catholic High School, the boys set a course for the small Lake Erie island where Shelly's body had washed ashore and to where she wished to be returned. It would be one last "so Shelly" romantic quest. At least that's what they think. As they navigate around the obstacles and resist temptations during their odyssey, Keats and Gordon glue together the shattered pieces of Shelly's and their own pasts while attempting to make sense of her tragic and premature end. So Shelly is told by Keats, the confidante of both Gordon and Shelly, which makes for an absorbing plot. This reader is unsure whether knowing about the real-life poets is a hindrance or a help. The smooth, playful writing style skillfully intertwines the stories of the protagonists. Roth has penned a contemporary story of three teenagers' coming-of-age that takes the reader on a turbulent journey. The story contains a spattering of social issues—abortion, suicide, and sexual abuse—which are best suited to an older reader. The visually beautiful cover immediately catches attention. This novel may have limited readership but is one that teenage girls will thoroughly enjoy. Reviewer: Amanda McFadden

Kirkus Reviews

Fatalistic teen narrator John Keats opens this tale with his observation that most of us don't matter. Emotionally and financially distanced from his classmates at Trinity High, poor, doomed Keats delivers morbid statistics, occasional sermons about society's evils and the story of George Gordon Byron and Michelle "Shelly" Shelley. He begins with a funeral and ends with a burial, relating Gordon and Shelly's love/hate relationship between the two events. Like their namesakes (the Romantics Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley, conflated to create Shelly, Lord Byron and John Keats), all three teenagers write, but their personal drama dwarfs their literary output. They are riveting but not entirely sympathetic characters, particularly Gordon, whom Keats portrays as a callous genius and womanizer. Roth supplements the namesakes' original scandals with abortion, alcohol, incest, masturbation and swearing. As anguished writers and tortured teens are universal, the narrative offers a powerful dose of modern teen cynicism and yearning; a subplot involving freedom fighters unnecessarily complicates an already full story. Lurid yet literary. (afterword, bibliography)(Fiction. 14 & up)