| Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural |
| Physical & Emotional Abuse |
| Depression |
| Social Themes |
| Young Adult Fiction |
Summary
Summary
When nearly killing a classmate gets seventeen-year-old Sadie Su kicked out of her third boarding school in four years, she returns to her family's California vineyard estate. Here, she's meant to stay out of trouble. Here, she's meant to do a lot of things. But it's hard. She's bored. And when Sadie's bored, the only thing she likes is trouble.
Emerson Tate's a poor boy living in a rich town, with his widowed mother and strange, haunted little brother. All he wants his senior year is to play basketball and make something happen with the girl of his dreams. That's why Emerson's not happy Sadie's back. An old childhood friend, she knows his worst secrets. The things he longs to forget. The things she won't ever let him.
Haunted is a good word for fifteen-year-old Miles Tate. Miles can see the future, after all. And he knows his vision of tragic violence at his school will come true, because his visions always do. That's what he tells the new girl in town. The one who listens to him. The one who recognizes the darkness in his past.
But can Miles stop the violence? Or has the future already been written? Maybe tragedy is his destiny. Maybe it's all of theirs.
Delicate Monsters is Stephanie Kuehn at her finest.
Author Notes
STEPHANIE KUEHN is the William C. Morris Award-winning author of Charm & Strange . She holds degrees in linguistics and sport psychology, and is currently working toward a doctorate in clinical psychology. She lives in Northern California with her husband, their three children, and a joyful abundance of pets. When she's not writing, she's running. Or reading. Or dreaming.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-This novel centers on the convergence of the lives of Sadie, a damaged girl who enjoys causing others pain, and Emerson, a boy who's trying desperately to hide the dysfunction inside his family and himself. The novel follows Sadie as she arrives back in California wine country after being expelled from a series of far-flung and expensive boarding schools. Emerson is stunned by her reappearance and unprepared to face the past they shared, which only makes Sadie more interested in pursuing and taunting him. When a life-or-death crisis occurs, both of them must finally face reality, along with their demons. The emotional baggage of the main characters is never fully explained or resolved, but this will not bother teens who enjoy a briskly paced, high-adrenaline narrative full of parties, sex, and fast cars. Overall, Delicate Monsters is an enjoyable read but has no gripping moments or stunning surprises to make it stand up against more compelling novels, such as The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking, 2014) or It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini (Miramax, 2006). VERDICT For avid fans of the author and teens who enjoy honest and often dark tales.-Tara Hixon, Piedmont High School, OK © Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kuehn's lacerating third novel centers on three deeply damaged teenagers, the "delicate monsters" of the title. Sadie, the half-Chinese daughter of a well-to-do California vineyard owner, is a sadist who has returned home to Sonoma after her role in the near-death of a classmate at her most recent boarding school. Her classmate and former childhood friend, Emerson, seems more sympathetic at first-it isn't his fault that his father committed suicide, leaving the family in poverty-but he, too, has dark secrets. Then there is Emerson's younger brother, Miles: physically and mentally ill, possibly psychic, and a nonstop victim of their high school's bullies. Amid virtually useless parents, teachers, and counselors, and plenty of alcohol, sex, and pain, these three stagger through the agonies of past and present, hurting each other and others as they go. Kuehn (Complicit) once again proves herself a talented writer in a tough, punishing novel about the damages we inflict on others and the shaky defenses we build to mask trauma and guilt. Ages 14-up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Seventeen-year-old Sadie Su returns to her familys California vineyard estate and public high school after being kicked out of boarding school for a prank that nearly killed another student. Cruel and dangerously bored, she amuses herself by toying with childhood acquaintance Emerson Tate. Emerson is already stressed -- with a sickly younger brother, an overworked widowed mom, whispers about his family around town, his own shameful dark impulses -- and Sadies reappearance adds to the pressure. She gleefully reminds him of their sadistic afterschool activities as children and, after catching him committing an act of sexual violation against his unconscious girlfriend, adds this secret to her arsenal. Emersons precarious good-kid faade -- one he desperately wants to believe himself -- begins to crack. Meanwhile, Sadie meets Emersons brother, fifteen-year-old Miles, at school and (surprising them both) takes a protective role as Miles endures bullying, a series of unexplained illnesses, and bloody visions he believes are prophetic. Both Miless illnesses and his visions, as it turns out, have origins in one long-ago afternoon at the vineyard; all three teens confront the brutal truth of that day as their intersecting stories build to an explosive, shocking conclusion. As she did in Charm Strange (rev. 11/13) and Complicit (rev. 7/14), Kuehn unflinchingly explores the darkest places of the human psyche, leaving many lingering questions about nature-versus-nurture and the relentlessness of mental illness. katie bircher (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Three troubled teenagers. One is as cruel as she pleases, another is riddled with guilt, and the third sees terrifying visions. Their lives intersect and explode in a California town where picturesque grapevines grow and ugly secrets are exposed. Seventeen-year-old Sadie Su arrives at Sonoma High after being kicked out of boarding schoolthe third time in four yearsfor almost killing a classmate. Her childhood friend, 18-year-old Emerson Tate, is beginning to fall in love with classmate May and cringes when he realizes Sadie's back in town. Emerson's kid brother, Miles, is a sickly, nervous soul, in and out of hospitals, who fears his worst vision is coming true. During a party, Sadie catches Emerson in an act involving an unconscious May, which reignites a secret she's dying to taunt him with. Grappling with his own demons, Emerson searches for the truth about his father's death. When Miles goes missing, a weary Emerson can't bring himself to care, while Sadie, the most heartless of all, finds herself wondering if there's still hope. Kuehn's prose intensifies in feeling with each page. Her characters' mental anguish and vulnerability take center stage, no excuses allowed, pain and rawness totally exposed. Sexual language and activity reveal the highs and lows of these teens on the edge of despair. A chilling look into heartache and reckless redemptionnot for the faint of heart. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Award-winning Kuehn is firing on all cylinders with her latest taut psychological thriller. Booted from boarding school for nearly killing a classmate, 17-year-old Sadie Su returns home to her family's Sonoma wine estate, where she was childhood friends with Emerson Tate, to finish out her education. Now a senior jock with eyes on his crush, Emerson is haunted by his father's suicide and concerned about his brother, Miles, whose overly sickly nature makes him prone to bullying and worse at school. Kuehn effortlessly switches between Sadie, Emerson, and Miles, unspooling an intriguing entwined story that dips backward and forward, rife with teasing questions that gradually lay bare troubling secrets. Are Miles' visions of the future genuine? What really is the cause of his many medical problems? Is Emerson hiding something? And who's really good anyway? Kuehn kicks it into high gear when Miles disappears, leaving readers hard-pressed to put this one down before reaching the heart-pounding conclusion. Like her previous YA novels, Kuehn's latest benefits from tight construction, expert pacing, and voices that ring especially true for contemporary teenagers, particularly Sadie's entrancing, gleefully acerbic tone. Intelligent, compulsively readable literary fiction with a dark twist.--Barnes, Jennifer Copyright 2015 Booklist
