Rose Sees Red (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Rose Sees Red Karen Coats Castellucci, Cecil. Rose Sees Red. Scholastic, 2010. [208p.] ISBN 978-0-545-06079-0 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-10. Rose is a dance student at New York's High School of Performing Arts in the 1980s, even though she doesn't think she's that good; she's decided, after a bad friendship bustup, that friends aren't worth the heartache, even when some girls from her class invite her into their circle. She is, however, mildly fascinated by Yrena, the Russian girl who lives in an apartment compound next door to Rose's house. As it turns out, Yrena is interested in Rose as well, and one night the two girls decide to go out for ice cream, followed of course by the ubiquitous KGB and CIA agents that monitor Yrena's family; when Yrena impulsively slips her guards, Rose has no choice but to follow. One thing leads to another until they've stayed out all night, attended the famous 1982 anti-nuclear protest rally in Central Park, and created an international incident. Rose is a credible if sometimes tedious character, given to whining introspection until Yrena's emergence catapults her out of herself into considering what it must be like to be confined to a world without personal freedoms. The night-long sightseeing jaunt through New York City, coupled with Rose's developing friendships with her classmates, sparkles, but the book then loses a lot of its luster in an extended dialogue about the Cold War, nuclear arms, and the way personal friendships such as the one they have created overnight could solve all of the world's problems; it's probably exactly the kind of conversation that took place at the rally among the younger participants, but it's heavy-handed nonetheless. Context clues regarding the year are very stingy, with the first hint being a mention of the recent bicentennial halfway through the book, so readers not familiar with recent American history may be somewhat at sea with all the Cold War references. However, the details are authentic, so that readers will be given a true taste of what kinds of issues concerned teens thirty years ago. Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois