Facing the Sun by Janice Lynn Mather

Abstract

Reviewed by: Facing the Sun by Janice Lynn Mather Deborah Berglind, Editor Mather, Janice Lynn Facing the Sun. Simon, 2020 [416p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781534406049 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781534406063 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 8-12 Four Bahamanian teenaged girls share narration: Eve, the straitlaced pastor's daughter, whose time is spent caring for younger brothers and sisters; KeeKee, the spoken-word poet, whose mother is the neighborhood provider of shelter, period products, and condoms; Faith, who's flirting with somebody's boyfriend while aching over her mother's mental deterioration at home; and Nia, who longs to escape her strict and overprotective mother. When the local beach is sold to a developer for the building of a hotel, that means the end of their haven and of Eve's father's beach church, and the loss seems to symbolize other major changes in the girls' lives. This is a sprawling, lushly written, high-class soap opera filled with old-fashioned reveals about parentage (two of the girls turn out to be half-sisters), betrayal (one girl plagiarizes another's work), mental illness (though Faith's mother's illness is at one point labeled as dementia, it seems more a classic gothic presentation), and tragedies (one parent is keeping advancing cancer from their family). While the girls' voices are somewhat indistinguishable and the events melodramatic, that over-the-top eventfulness is the point with this kind of story, and Mather writes with inviting, atmospheric prose that vividly conveys life on Pinder Street, the intertwining dynamics of the families there, and the emotional intensity of teenaged life in the face of all kinds of change. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois