Category Archives: Helene Dunbar

September 2, 2019 · 11:57 pm

Review: We Are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar

Title: We Are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: Historical (80s), LGBT, Young Adult
Length: 304 pages
Book Rating: C

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

A poignant, heartbreaking, and uplifting, story in the tradition of The Perks of Being a Wallflowerabout three friends coming-of-age in the early 1980s as they struggle to forge their own paths in the face of fear of the unknown.

Michael is content to live in the shadow of his best friends, James and Becky. Plus, his brother, Connor, has already been kicked out of the house for being gay and laying low seems to be Michael’s only chance at avoiding the same fate.

To pass the time before graduation, Michael hangs out at The Echo where he can dance and forget about his father’s angry words, the pressures of school, and the looming threat of AIDS, a disease that everyone is talking about, but no one understands.

Then he meets Gabriel, a boy who actually sees him. A boy who, unlike seemingly everyone else in New York City, is interested in him and not James. And Michael has to decide what he’s willing to risk to be himself.

Review:

Set in New York during 1983, We Are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar is a poignant young adult novel set against the backdrop of the beginning of the AIDS crisis.

Sixteen year old Michael Bartolomeo is navigating his life with best friends James Barrows and Becky Kaplan.  He is gay but considering his parents kicked out his older brother Connor after he came out, Michael is struggling to remain in the closet. He escapes the pressures of his home life through music and evenings dancing at The Echo.  Michael is also quite close to James, who is making his mark in the theatre world and Becky who lives on tenterhooks due to her mother’s drug use. Michael’s budding romance with Gabriel takes place at the start of the  AIDS epidemic.  With little information available about how to protect himself against this frightening disease, will Michael be willing to jump into a relationship with Gabriel?

Michael is an interesting narrator but the lack of quotation marks and the abrupt scene changes between the vignettes makes it difficult to connect to him and the unfolding story. The story does not really come together until well after the halfway point as Michael truly understands the realities of being gay during a deadly health epidemic. His brother Connor’s reckless and risky decisions also serve as a cautionary tale as Michael begins to fall in love with Gabriel.

We Are Lost and Found is a thought-provoking young adult novel with an interesting storyline. The plot is well-researched, quite informative and offers a realistic portrait of coming to age at such a fraught time period.  While the writing style might work not for everyone, this young adult novel by Helene Dunbar highlights a compelling and important part of LGBT history.

Comments Off on Review: We Are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar

Filed under Helene Dunbar, Historical, Historical (80s), LGBT, Rated C, Review, Sourcebooks Fire, We Are Lost and Found, Young Adult

March 4, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: Boomerang by Helene Dunbar

Title: Boomerang by Helene Dunbar
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Length: 322 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Michael Sterling disappeared from his Maine town five years ago. Everyone assumed he was kidnapped. The truth is worse–he ran away and found the life he always dreamed of.

But now, at seventeen, he’s Sean Woodhouse. And he’s come “home,” to the last place he wants to be, to claim the small inheritance his grandparents promised him when he graduated high school, all so he can save Trip, the neighbor boy he developed an intense and complicated relationship with while he was away.

Sean has changed, but so has his old town and everyone in it. And knowing who he is and where he belongs is more confusing than ever. As his careful plans begin to crumble, so does everything he’s believed about his idyllic other life.

Review:

In Boomerang by Helene Dunbar, a runaway teenager returns home in order to collect an inheritance to save his best friend.

Five years earlier, twelve year old Michael Sterling felt like he had choice but to run away from home. His alcoholic mother is neglectful and makes her living dancing in a strip club. He stows away in a builder’s truck then reinvents himself as Sean Woodhouse. For the next five years, he lives in seclusion with the Woodhouses where he is homeschooled and befriends neighbor, Trip Marchette. Sean and Trip dream of another life far away from Trip’s abusive uncle but they need Sean’s trust to make their plans come to fruition.  With Trip’s situation becoming more precarious, Sean returns home but unexpected complications  could ruin the future they envision.

Many surprises await Sean once he is back home. He left without fully realizing how his disappearance would be construed by law enforcement, his mom and the rest of the town.  Much has changed in his absence and to his shock, his mom is drastically different. Sean is uncomfortable by his next door neighbor and former friend Jenny Gordon’s expectations.  And underneath all of his uneasiness about being back in town, Sean is worried about Trip and the things that happened between them right before he returned to his mom.

With his friendship with Jenny on shaky ground, Sean unexpectedly finds companionship with Emery Whitman and her twin brother Rory. Unfortunately for him, Emery knows more about his past than he is comfortable with. Despite his apprehension about what she will do with this knowledge, Sean is drawn to her. His feelings for her are conflicted since he has yet to make sense of his relationship with Trip. Sean and Trip were extremely close friends but there is much more to their relationship than just friendship. This conflict over the true nature of what he shared with Trip is tangled up in his desire to keep his promise to save him from his uncle. Needless to say, Sean is struggling on many fronts as he reintegrates to his former life with his mom while desperately clinging to the one he is reluctant to leave behind.

Boomerang is a captivating young adult novel that is heartfelt and engaging. Sean is an extremely sympathetic protagonist whose struggles are realistic and thought-provoking. The secondary characters are colorful and well-developed. The storyline is multi-layered and quite poignant.  Helene Dunbar keeps readers on the edge of the seats about how Sean’s story will work out right up until the novel’s heartwarming conclusion. An outstanding young adult will appeal to readers of all ages.

Comments Off on Review: Boomerang by Helene Dunbar

Filed under Boomerang, Contemporary, Helene Dunbar, Rated B+, Review, Sky Pony Press, Young Adult