Anton DiSclafani's The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls
It's 1930, and teenager Thea has just been sent away from home in disgrace (for what, we find out gradually), to the titular camp for girls, populated by the daughters of wealthy Southerners. There's a little bit here about the Depression hitting some families, but not much, and there's a little bit about Thea making friends, but not much. It's all very . . . insular. At first, I was sympathetic to Thea--what she did was kind of gross, but not really her fault, except that she keeps making terrible and selfish and mean decisions, and was unlikable in a not-fun way. Not to say that she isn't realistic, but I still wanted to give her a good shake. And I found the end to be entirely unsatisfying. Thea is really the only well-drawn character here--I don't feel like I knew any of the others, and I didn't care much about any of them, including her. Well-written though, really lovely descriptions of the Asheville area (the camp is in the Blue Ridge Mountains). B/B-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on June 4th.
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