Unbecoming in Mock Printz 2026

Jan 18, 2016 Karyn Silverman rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, arcs, z2016-reads

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 16, 2016 Megan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: teen-fiction, finished-2016

Haven't we all been Katie, going along with something that does not feel right in our hearts because we are too afraid to stand up for ourselves? Haven't we all been Caroline, treating those around us with anger to cover our guilty selves? Haven't we all been Mary, wanting to taste all that life has to offer? ...more

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Jul 10, 2016 Barbara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: death, community, elderly-characters, math, adoption, cultural-identity, disabilities, grief, lgbtq, friendship

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I enjoyed every aspect of this book, starting with its cover depicting three different generations of women with red hair, and ending with its conclusion, an abashedly-hopeful conclusion that a dysfunctional family can finally find resolution, acceptance, and forgiveness for one another. When Mary accompanies her live-in companion Jack to the hospital when he has a heart attack, she is completely disoriented, and the hospital contacts her long-estranged daughter Carolyn. Carolyn arrives with her I enjoyed every aspect of this book, starting with its cover depicting three different generations of women with red hair, and ending with its conclusion, an abashedly-hopeful conclusion that a dysfunctional family can finally find resolution, acceptance, and forgiveness for one another. When Mary accompanies her live-in companion Jack to the hospital when he has a heart attack, she is completely disoriented, and the hospital contacts her long-estranged daughter Carolyn. Carolyn arrives with her daughter Katie and son Chris in tow. Even though she feels sorry for the woman, who is clearly suffering from Alzheimer's, she has no desire to get involved with the woman who deserted her when she was a child. On the other hand, Katie and Mary quickly form a strong connection with Katie recording Mary's stories and collected memories in a book that she uses to make sense of the world around her. As the plot unfolds, readers will realize that all three women are holding onto secrets that keep them distanced from others in their lives. Even the title is significant since it can be examined on two levels--the notion of being or acting in a way that while true to oneself may be considered unsuitable by others and the idea of unraveling all the ways someone has learned to be as she is becoming someone and deciding to throw those proven paths and behaviors aside in favor of taking risks as well as Mary's own unraveling as she loses more and more of who she is each day. Clearly, these three women are flawed characters, just like most of us, and have regrets in their lives because of mistakes they have made, but just as clearly, they have much to teach the rest of us about courage and finding the strength to embrace our own identities. While seventeen-year-old Katie struggles with the gossipy remarks of her classmates and her former friend Esme's refusal to come to her defense, she is torn between fitting in and being true to herself, her mother and grandmother have also faced similar decisions about their own life choices. This book is filled with elegant writing and eloquent passages that pluck at the heart's strings and make readers want to take advantage of the delights of each new dawn rather than hiding from the day's possibilities. ...more

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May 18, 2016 Debrarian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-detective, ya-aka-teen, queer-plus, discussable, booktalkable, ya-adult-crossover

Fascinating themes of memory, identity, mother/daughter relationships, and mores of the times.
It turns out 17-year-0ld Katie's mum Caroline does have a mother still living: Mary. Katie discovers this when the family is summoned to the hospital to take charge of her confused grandmother, whose partner just died. Mary is in the middle stages of Alzheimer's, and that's an interesting time to build - or rebuild - family relationships, excavate the fragments of old memories, and create (or imagine) ...more

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Mar 14, 2017 Christina Getrost rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: realisticfiction, lgbtq-ya, audiobooks

I just loved this book! It helped that I listened to it on audio: the narrator is the author herself, and unlike other author-read efforts I've tried to listen to, she is fantastic! I loved the British accent, of course, but she does a great job of changing her voice for the three main characters so that you can tell the teenager apart from the middle-aged mom and again from the elderly grandmother. I really enjoyed this intergenerational story, how family secrets were gradually revealed through ...more

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Jun 17, 2016 Dana Berglund rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult

Tells the stories of Katie, her mother Caroline, and her grandmother Mary, and the secrets they all hold. Katie has been told to keep that past closed, and that she had no grandparents...until the day the hospital calls to have them pick up Mary, the estranged grandmother. Mary is clearly suffering from a form of dementia that is painful to watch and understand. While Caroline is eager to get Mary into a different living arrangement (and rebury the past), Katie is drawn to Mary's fire and her ci ...more

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May 01, 2016 Jennifer rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult-teen

So disappointed. I loved the author's other titles so I was really looking forward to this one. But I didn't buy the mom's unrelenting nastiness, the grandmother's unrelenting cheerfulness or the teenage girl's unrelenting cluelessness. The best chapters were the ones set in the past, and the grandmother arguably had the most interesting plot line of all. I sadly found myself skimming the rest. ...more

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Aug 19, 2017 Vicki rated it liked it · review of another edition

Three generations of women; a family saga sharing the back story as we currently read about the three as still a work in progress. Many secrets slowly revealed. Compassion builds as you see each persons many sides.
"You can't unknow things. You can't shove information to the back of your mind and not have it hurt you." A British author, also wrote the notable, "Before I Die" ...more

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Jun 21, 2016 elissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult, my_10s_reads, capitol_choices_archives

I found the ending to be somewhat weaker than the rest of the book. Kind of petered out in that I could only really imagine what the future held for the oldest of the 3 main characters. Very strong characterizations of all 3 of them.

I liked all of the "secret" stuff--about how we keep secrets from both ourselves and others, and the exploration of how the secret-keeping effects our own lives as well as the lives of others around us, and maybe even a thought that it's at least part of what leads ...more

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