The Truth of Right Now

October 31, 2016
In this engrossing debut novel set in New York City, Corthron takes readers back and forth between the perspectives of two high school loners who are beginning the school year with a lot of baggage. Lily Rothstein, a white musician, is the school pariah, abandoned by even her best friends, though Corthron doesn’t immediately reveal why. Dariomauritius “Dari” Gray, who is black, has an abusive father and his own history of rage, which he tries to escape by focusing on drawing and keeping to himself. Sparks fly when the two meet, and their conversations about family, race, and their difficult backgrounds light up the pages. Corthron carefully builds trust between Dari and Lily, but as the teenagers’ pasts catch up with them, some late-breaking and scandalous developments, including the revelation of what has made Lily such an outcast, undermine the still-new romance and tenuous intimacy between them. While some of these dramatic twists feel rushed, Corthron marks herself as a writer unafraid of taking up difficult topics relevant to teens’ lives. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laurie Liss, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Starred review from November 1, 2016
High school can be hell, but if they can hold onto their friendship, Lily and Dari might just survive.... In her debut novel, playwright Corthron crafts a haunting and disturbingly realistic tale of two teenagers from different worlds trying desperately to hold onto their artistic dreams while enduring the vapid wasteland that is their upscale New York City prep school. Returning for the first time since her suicide attempt, Lily, a privileged Jewish white girl, is estranged from her former friends and now finds their lives trivial. Dari, a cynical Trinidadian-American transfer student, is a brooding painter in search of a new muse. Both are outcasts from broken homes drawn together by a mutual need for companionship. Lily and Dari alternate narration (Lily in first person; Dari in third; both realistically profane), enabling the author to build two richly nuanced protagonists whose voices are so heartbreakingly authentic that readers may scan their homerooms searching for them. Vivid details, from the smell of the bums on the 1 train and the brutal taunts of high school social cliques to the all-encompassing isolation the teens feel dealing with parents who don't quite understand them, practically pop off of the pages. Another treat this novel boasts are secondary characters who manage to be as intriguing as its stars, particularly Dari's overbearing immigrant father and Lily's well-meaning mother. A powerhouse of storytelling that feels timely and timeless. (Fiction. 14 & up)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2016

Gr 10 Up-What happens when bad girl meets bad boy? In Corthron's heady realistic novel, troubled teen Lily returns to her high school after a year "away." New kid Dari sits alone at lunch, drawing and brooding, and catches Lily's eye. As they strike up a friendship, and more, each teen's layered backstory is unscrambled, revealing a mosaic of abuse, untrustworthy adults, and self-harm. Lily's flighty hippie mother and Dari's controlling, derisive father are no background figures here; they each play an important part in the young people's lives. Corthron's writing strikes the right balance of pitchy and pithy-no words are left unchained or events unraveling as Dari and Lily experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. True to the characters' lives, sexual situations and graphic language appear throughout the narrative. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Rainbow Rowell's works.-Amanda C. Buschmann, Carroll Elementary School, Houston

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 When Lily returns to her Manhattan high school in the fall, she is met with disgust and revulsion from her longtime classmates. They all know what she did the previous school year, and their disdain only adds to Lily's distress, since she's still emotionally paralyzed by the experience and unable to take refuge even in her beloved music. Then she notices a new kid, Dari, who keeps his head in his art to avoid his difficult home situation. As they grow closer, they find some comfort in each other, and if this was a predictable novel, their romance would heal all their wounds. But debut novelist Corthron eschews the easy path, especially when Lily, who's white, displays careless, dangerous naivete when Dari, who's black, faces an ultimately tragic interaction with police officers. While the plot at times verges on melodrama, its focus on racial injustice becomes the most powerful of the novel's subplots. Hand to fans of Kekla Magoon's How It Went Down (2014) or Stephen Emond's Bright Lights, Dark Nights (2015).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2017
A complex and satisfying take on the classic boy-meets-girl archetype, Corthron's novel follows star-crossed teen lovers in contemporary NYC. Black Trinidadian artist Dari and privileged, troubled white girl Lily are both authentic-feeling characters, and their struggle to reconcile their newfound happiness together with pains of the past makes for a refreshingly honest story about the blessings and consequences of opening one's heart.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)