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Sydney and Calvin Have a Baby
Geeky writing prodigy Sydney Camden has always dreamed about finding true love. When she ends up dating Josh Simpson, king of her Catholic high school, it seems too good to be true. And it It ends in rape—and the accidental death of the drunken rapist. As Sydney begins spiraling into the safe escape of her story-worlds, along comes Calvin. He’s an annoyingly handsome British guy who just wants to find a smidge of happiness after losing his Mum to cancer and moving to Seattle to live with his relatives, the Simpsons. He’s not ex-pecting to fall for some American girl at first sight, certainly not at his newly dead cousin Josh’s funeral. Sydney claims she wants nothing to do with this relative of Josh’s. But as Calvin becomes en-tangled in her tragic story, she begins to see that the Divine Author is writing her a much differ-ent love story than she expected…
216 pages, Paperback
Published September 20, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 2, 2019
I read this book "cold," that is, I never once glanced at any reviews, summaries, or other potential spoilers. I had no inkling what this book was about other than the cover and the title. And, I admit, I didn't really want to read it, figuring it was just another teeny-bopper "OMG she's pregs!" story. Definitely not my cup o' tea. So what made me pick it up? The author bio!
Here is this YA novel, put out by a Catholic publisher, written by a graduate of what is probably the most authentically-Catholic university in the world, with this rather shocking-looking cover that definitely does NOT look like the kind of thing I hand down to my daughters as "inspiring reading." Curious. But I am here to tell you, this is not a book to be judged by its cover! This book is flat-out fantastically written--author is truly gifted at story-telling--and I completely agree with the reviews above about not being able to put it down.
*SPOILERS a-comin’!*
Told as a retrospective account by (not-baby-daddy) Calvin, this is a painfully honest look into today's Catholic high school culture through the eyes of a British student recently come to live in the States with family he never knew existed until the recent death of his single mother. Although he narrates the story of main character Sydney, a gifted social outcast who has been date raped by Calvin's American cousin Josh, Calvin is the redeeming character in the story, a hero's hero in every way. Thorne's genius in crafting this "cursedly dashing British fellow" is the reason this (not really!) typical teenage tale, which could have potentially come off as trashy in the hands of a less-adept wordsmith, is worthy of high praise amongst diehard March-for-Lifers and Cafeteria Catholics alike. Similar to how Harper Lee used a child-protagonist/narrator to address volatile social topics in To Kill a Mockingbird, Thorne uses Calvin, a good-natured "foreigner" with an almost innocent bystander persona, to deliver harsh truths that might not sit as well with us coming from our own neighbors or family members.
Calvin observes, "This particular Catholic school was one of those uniform-clad institutions that might make a pass at religious instruction here or there, but you'd probably never guess it if you walked the halls." He relates a typical family dinner: "The three of them mumbled a quick, standard Catholic grace and began eating…" His perspective on the lackluster attitudes of American Catholic families comes off somehow less offensive to readers in the same way that Lee's Scout could make racial observations no adult character could get away with in the deep South. Even so, it was pretty uncomfortable to read (one of) the (several pieces of terrible) advice from Sydney's best friend Winnie on the topic of abortion: "Oh come on. Big Catholic school, oh no. Like we're not all screwing each other and on the pill and watching our parents get divorced? Nobody cares about that stuff anymore. It's not a big deal.” Ouch.
Winnie is not the only astonishly-horrible giver of advice. I was very surprised and sad at how Syndey's beloved and trusted aunt, the adult she turned to for help, also let me, um, I mean Sydney, down. But then again, Thorne is telling a story that is painfully realistic. Parents, police, and even the school principal majorly drop the ball throughout, and a careless reader may call out Thorne on this aspect of the work, citing lack of good role models as a reason to keep this book out of the hands of our Catholic young adults. But that would be a mistake. I believe Thorne has heaped up such a high pile of mistakes and obstacles for our protagonist with good reasons beyond lending to a dramatic suspense the size of impossible: she’s fearlessly daring to show us our human fallibility. Even grownups make mistakes, and we need to face it. Many situations in Sydney and Calvin Have a Baby are hard to look at, for young and not-so-young adult readers. And I’m sure many a Catholic mom-reader will try to deny that a Catholic school could really be as bad as the one in this story, but I’ve lived this. It really can be. These harsh truths give Thorne’s tale power and credibility, for it is in contrast to such horribleness that we appreciate the profound goodness that exists in a character such as Calvin. Thorne gives YA readers a modern-day saint, if you will, that we can truly aspire to be. Oh! this book. It isn’t for the weak-of-heart, folks, but somehow I wish everyone would read it.
Here is this YA novel, put out by a Catholic publisher, written by a graduate of what is probably the most authentically-Catholic university in the world, with this rather shocking-looking cover that definitely does NOT look like the kind of thing I hand down to my daughters as "inspiring reading." Curious. But I am here to tell you, this is not a book to be judged by its cover! This book is flat-out fantastically written--author is truly gifted at story-telling--and I completely agree with the reviews above about not being able to put it down.
*SPOILERS a-comin’!*
Told as a retrospective account by (not-baby-daddy) Calvin, this is a painfully honest look into today's Catholic high school culture through the eyes of a British student recently come to live in the States with family he never knew existed until the recent death of his single mother. Although he narrates the story of main character Sydney, a gifted social outcast who has been date raped by Calvin's American cousin Josh, Calvin is the redeeming character in the story, a hero's hero in every way. Thorne's genius in crafting this "cursedly dashing British fellow" is the reason this (not really!) typical teenage tale, which could have potentially come off as trashy in the hands of a less-adept wordsmith, is worthy of high praise amongst diehard March-for-Lifers and Cafeteria Catholics alike. Similar to how Harper Lee used a child-protagonist/narrator to address volatile social topics in To Kill a Mockingbird, Thorne uses Calvin, a good-natured "foreigner" with an almost innocent bystander persona, to deliver harsh truths that might not sit as well with us coming from our own neighbors or family members.
Calvin observes, "This particular Catholic school was one of those uniform-clad institutions that might make a pass at religious instruction here or there, but you'd probably never guess it if you walked the halls." He relates a typical family dinner: "The three of them mumbled a quick, standard Catholic grace and began eating…" His perspective on the lackluster attitudes of American Catholic families comes off somehow less offensive to readers in the same way that Lee's Scout could make racial observations no adult character could get away with in the deep South. Even so, it was pretty uncomfortable to read (one of) the (several pieces of terrible) advice from Sydney's best friend Winnie on the topic of abortion: "Oh come on. Big Catholic school, oh no. Like we're not all screwing each other and on the pill and watching our parents get divorced? Nobody cares about that stuff anymore. It's not a big deal.” Ouch.
Winnie is not the only astonishly-horrible giver of advice. I was very surprised and sad at how Syndey's beloved and trusted aunt, the adult she turned to for help, also let me, um, I mean Sydney, down. But then again, Thorne is telling a story that is painfully realistic. Parents, police, and even the school principal majorly drop the ball throughout, and a careless reader may call out Thorne on this aspect of the work, citing lack of good role models as a reason to keep this book out of the hands of our Catholic young adults. But that would be a mistake. I believe Thorne has heaped up such a high pile of mistakes and obstacles for our protagonist with good reasons beyond lending to a dramatic suspense the size of impossible: she’s fearlessly daring to show us our human fallibility. Even grownups make mistakes, and we need to face it. Many situations in Sydney and Calvin Have a Baby are hard to look at, for young and not-so-young adult readers. And I’m sure many a Catholic mom-reader will try to deny that a Catholic school could really be as bad as the one in this story, but I’ve lived this. It really can be. These harsh truths give Thorne’s tale power and credibility, for it is in contrast to such horribleness that we appreciate the profound goodness that exists in a character such as Calvin. Thorne gives YA readers a modern-day saint, if you will, that we can truly aspire to be. Oh! this book. It isn’t for the weak-of-heart, folks, but somehow I wish everyone would read it.
January 20, 2019
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this story. This book is listed as a YA novel, but the subject matter might make some readers a little hesitant. I mean, high school students having a baby is not something you expect to find in Christian teen fiction. But this book surprised me. It was such a delight.
The basic premise of the story is traumatic and horrible - a teenage girl, who is a bit of a nerd and doesn’t really fit in with the popular crowd, is date raped which results in a pregnancy. Her attacker, who had been drinking, dies in an accident right after the incident. Don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away, this information is printed on the back of the book. (I should note, there are no graphic scenes at all.)
Knowing all that, you might think “delight” would not really be an appropriate word to describe this novel. But the book is written from the perspective of Calvin. It’s a bit of an unusual style, and might not be for everyone, but it completely worked for me. His voice was so wonderful. Calvin is from England and his dry, clever comments reminded me of the charm of many of actor Hugh Grant’s characters. I loved the British-isms throughout the book. Through Calvin’s voice, this difficult story is filled with a clever sense of humor. The messages in this story, that babies are a precious gift, that good things can come out of tragedies, and that faith is our stronghold, are so important and sadly are not heard often enough in our society.
The basic premise of the story is traumatic and horrible - a teenage girl, who is a bit of a nerd and doesn’t really fit in with the popular crowd, is date raped which results in a pregnancy. Her attacker, who had been drinking, dies in an accident right after the incident. Don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away, this information is printed on the back of the book. (I should note, there are no graphic scenes at all.)
Knowing all that, you might think “delight” would not really be an appropriate word to describe this novel. But the book is written from the perspective of Calvin. It’s a bit of an unusual style, and might not be for everyone, but it completely worked for me. His voice was so wonderful. Calvin is from England and his dry, clever comments reminded me of the charm of many of actor Hugh Grant’s characters. I loved the British-isms throughout the book. Through Calvin’s voice, this difficult story is filled with a clever sense of humor. The messages in this story, that babies are a precious gift, that good things can come out of tragedies, and that faith is our stronghold, are so important and sadly are not heard often enough in our society.
February 18, 2019
Excellent! I loved this fictional story. It reminded me how grateful I am that my birth mother gave me life and then put me up for adoption.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews