Friday, February 8, 2013

See You at Harry's

Jo Knowles is fast becoming one of my go-to authors for YA literature.  I devoured See You at Harry's yesterday and loved it!
Although the story is sad, I could hardly put it down. Fern and her family own a restaurant, Harry's, and life revolves around working and taking care of her younger brother, Charlie. Fern's older sister is taking a year off before starting college and her older brother, Holden, is grappling with his sexuality.
Fern often feels forgotten, except for when it comes to work. It seems as though when a job needs to get done, Fern is the first person her parents look to, especially when it comes to taking care of her younger brother, Charlie.  Fern is lucky to have a great friend, Ran, although their friendship is changing as they both enter their early teen years and it is more difficult for boys and girls to remain "just friends."  Despite her father's preoccupation with the restaurant and bringing in more customers and her mother's interest in yoga, meditation and the natural lifestyle, Fern is lucky to have such understanding parents.
When tragedy strikes, Fern and her family try to find their way through it- sometimes alone, and sometimes together.
Jo Knowles has realistically captured Fern's emotions and created a story I can't stop thinking about. Although I would classifty this as young adult literature, I think some more mature upper elementary readers would also like See You at Harry's.

1 comment:

Marce said...

Even though I am not a YA fan, this sounds great and I have enjoyed another by Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl.