Edgewater by Courtney Sheinmel (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Edgewater by Courtney Sheinmel Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Sheinmel, Courtney Edgewater. Amulet, 2015 [336p] ISBN 978-1-4197-1641-6 $17.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 8-10 Seventeen-year-old Lorrie Hollander has been hiding from things from her rich friends: Edgewater, her family’s glorious estate, is now a dilapidated mess; her aunt Gigi, also her guardian, has pretty much gone off the deep end; and the only way Lorrie is able to stay at her elite boarding school is through a trust fund set up by her AWOL mother. Now the tuition check hasn’t come through and Lorrie must return home to Edgewater, where she finds that her sister Susannah has become almost as eccentric as their aunt. More concerning (at least to Lorrie) is the fact that the money has somehow gone missing, and her search for it points directly toward a wealthy local senator—who also happens to be the father of Charlie, the boy with whom she has sparked up a summer romance. The homage to Grey Gardens is apparent, and Sheinmel manages to evoke both the titillating eccentricity of the Beales as well as their underlying sadness in Gigi and Susannah. Lorrie, on the other hand, is all edges and practicality, but her profound need to fit in, even at the expense of those she loves, and her arrogant sense of entitlement make her seem even more detached from reality than her sister and aunt and ultimately render her unlikable. The romance between Lorrie and Charlie develops at an unbelievable pace, even for YA novels, and their families’ connection is painfully obvious from the get-go. Still, Lorrie’s grief upon discovering the truth behind her mother’s leaving and her aunt’s episodes is heartbreakingly authentic, and her shock at her own vulnerability softens some of her earlier prickliness. Despite the flaws, this is still an interesting exploration of the ways in which dysfunctional people figure out how to function. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois