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Title details for Unbecoming by Jenny Downham - Available

Unbecoming

by Jenny Downham
Jenny Downham
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Three women. Three generations. Three secrets.

A Stonewall Honor Book!Katie's life is falling apart: her best friend thinks she's a freak, her mother, Caroline, controls every aspect of her life, and her estranged grandmother, Mary, appears as if out of nowhere. Mary has dementia and needs lots of care, and when Katie starts putting together Mary's life story, secrets and lies are uncovered: Mary's illegitimate baby, her zest for life and freedom and men; the way she lived her life to the full yet suffered huge sacrifices along the way. As the relationship between Mary and Caroline is explored, Katie begins to understand her own mother's behavior, and from that insight, the terrors about her sexuality, her future, and her younger brother are all put into perspective.Funny, sad, honest, and wise, this powerful multigenerational novel from international bestseller Jenny Downham celebrates life like no book before.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    June 1, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781338244557
      • File size: 409923 KB
      • Duration: 14:14:00

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 700
    • Text Difficulty: 3

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 23, 2015
      Downham (You Against Me) examines the family battles and internal conflicts of three generations of women in this novel about a household in crisis. Seventeen-year-old Katie’s life takes an unexpected turn when her estranged grandmother Mary, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, moves into their small apartment. While Katie’s mother tries to find another place for Mary to stay, Katie is drawn to the elderly stranger, a woman tormented by a past she can’t reliably remember. Even though Katie already has her share of responsibilities, trying to meet her mother’s high standards and looking after her disabled brother, she offers to become Mary’s caretaker. She is determined to unlock secrets about Mary’s history but doesn’t realize how her own past is intertwined with her grandmother’s. Alternating between Katie’s and Mary’s point of view, Downham shows extraordinary skill in expressing the complex psychologies of two very different women while exploring how people are shaped by events, unrealized dreams, and restrictions. The more answers Katie finds, the more she realizes that she will have to become someone new in order to be true to herself. Ages 14–up. Agent: Catherine Clarke, Felicity Bryan Associates.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Author-narrator Jenny Downham distinguishes the lives of three family members, never losing a sense of time or character. Seventeen-year-old Katie is very dependable--at least, that's how her working mother, Caroline, sees her. But Downham reveals roiling emotions that existed inside Katie even before, Mary, her estranged grandmother, comes to live with them. Now, Katie is confused by her mother's initially cold reception of her mother, and by her mother's later protectiveness toward the woman, who is slipping into dementia. Just as convincingly, Downham captures Mary's chaotic memories and enduring guilt and Caroline's painful memories of the past. Downham's successful dramatization of the characters and their secrets evokes varying perspectives on memory and honesty. S.W. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
    • School Library Journal

      Starred review from February 1, 2017

      Gr 9 Up-Although Mary, Caroline, and Katie are three very different generations in the same family, suddenly living under the same roof forces them to confront a complicated past that has kept them estranged for decades. Mary is the grandmother, newly widowed, fighting the dementia that is clouding and tangling memories. Caroline is her angry daughter, unforgiving of the long estrangement and unwilling to work toward a reunited future. Katie is Caroline's hopeful daughter and Mary's devoted granddaughter, who at 17 is learning who she is and who she refuses to be any longer. Despite rifts, misunderstandings, and lies, Katie will prove that the bonds of family are everlasting. London-based Downham (Before I Die) voices her third novel, which means she knows exactly how and where to increase the emotion and breathe a little distance into the conflicts. Her ability to seamlessly embody multiple generations is immediately evident (Downham is a former actress), while her tender characterization of the elderly Mary is the most empathy-inducing of all.

      Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:700
  • Text Difficulty:3

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