ARC Review: The Vow

The Vow by Jessica Martinez
4/5 stars
Simon Pulse, 2013
424 pages
YA Contemporary
Scheduled to release October 15

Source: Received an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review through Edelweiss.

I have read Martinez's Virtuosity so was excited to see this new book by her especially with its very different premise. Annie and Mo have long been best friends, both having felt ostracized from their normal peers. Annie in the shadow of the kidnapping and death of her popular older sister and Mo as a Muslim-Jordanian boy in a post-9/11 Kentucky. Neither quite fits in but they get each other. Until the devastating news that Mo must return to Jordan with his family as his father's work visa ends. Together they hatch the crazy plan to get married so that Mo can get a visa and stay here. Should be easy-peasy, right? Not so of course as both face difficulties with their families and eventually the toll of putting up the front of this fake happy marriage starts to get to them.

There were a lot of things I liked about this book such as the alternating narration between Annie and Mo and how the last sentence of one's section would be echoed in the first of the next. This really tied the story together and kept me turning the pages. Though there are a lot of subplots, I didn't feel like the book was overstuffed; however I don't think everything was handled as well as it could have been as will be discussed below. I would also like to applaud Martinez for diversity and the guts to take on a really different kind of story. I've honestly never read anything in YA about teenage marriage for a green card (and I've read a lot of YA in the past four years.) I've also not read many books about Muslims in America, definitely an underrepresented group (we need more books with this diversity, please!)

Less successful was the depictions of the families, both of which are shattered even before the marriage plot is hatched and only further splinters as the pressures mount. I'm a reader who likes resolution and this book does not provide a sufficient amount for me. Especially of interest to me was the case of Annie's parents who, eight years later, overwhelmingly suffocate Annie with their desire to know where she is at all times without displaying any interest in really knowing her as a person. They are pissed when she gets married with their racist side especially coming out. And that's basically it. Does Annie manage to reconcile with them? I don't know-Martinez does not share. Similarly Mo's family makes a few brief appearances through video chat once they return to Jordan but the full consequences of their separation are not really explored. It left me wanting a lot more. Also leaving me wanting more was the relationship between Annie and Mo, which has always been platonic. By the end though there are hints of it becoming something more. Hints only, mind you and I interpret the ending in one way but they never really talk those feelings out.

I was also a bit skeptical about their knowledge regarding fraudulent immigrant marriages, as in they didn't know much. I mean, have they not seen "The Proposal"??? I understand they're young and not thinking entirely rationally but the idea that the federal government closely examines marriages between citizens and foreigners hoping for a visa/green card to ascertain validity is a pretty basic one and I was mad at them for not being prepared for that contingency. I was also disgusted with the racism on display while recognizing that it's probably pretty accurate and even muted for this time. As mentioned above, Mo is a Muslim from Jordan and while not devout, he does match the appearance many people might have of Muslims and he receives a great deal of racist remarks and looks because of that. Luckily the text in no way condones that and represents Mo as just an ordinary person because that's what he is.

Overall: I feel like my negatives ended up being longer than my positives but I still really liked the writing and the concept for this a lot. The entire execution was maybe not strong enough to make a deep and lasting impression on me but I think this is a book worth checking out especially if you're a contemporary fan who doesn't need a lot of romance and also if you want to support diversity in books.

Virtuosity

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
Simon Pulse, 2011
288 pages
YA; Contemporary
3.5/5 stars

Source: Received a free e-ARC through Simon & Schuster's GalleyGrab program.

I was really excited about this because I play viola but haven't read many books where characters play instruments, let alone ones where that is the focus. Carmen is the main character here and she's a brilliant violinist who is preparing for the most important competition of her life so far. If she wins, she'll get to borrow a gorgeous violin, earn significant prize money, and perform around the world. But to win, she'll have to power through her stage fright, her reliance on pills, her stage mother, and face down the competition in the form of hot Jeremy.

I really liked parts of this book. Carmen's performance anxiety was wonderfully described as were her performances. When the music clicked and flowed through her, I felt so happy for her and elated for the audience that got to listen to her.  I also loved her struggle with taking pills for stage fright-both whether it was morally right and then through her decision to stop taking them, although I think she should have struggled more as she was dangerously dependent on them.

But my very favorite part was Carmen's conflict with her mother, a soprano whose voice was destroyed and now has all of her hopes and dreams pinned on Carmen's success-what pressure! Her mother micromanages everything about Carmen, going so far as to commit an unthinkable act that is the final push for Carmen to uproot her entire life.  As a former teenage girl, I know that the relationship with your mom during that time with can be difficult; but their relationship had even more difficulties than most. There were some painful scenes as Carmen rebels and tries to think for herself while her mother becomes ever more controlling.

There was something that blindsided me though. Based on my skimming in the blogosphere, I thought it was mostly about Carmen's interaction with violin and performance but there is actually a significant component involving a romance with a male competitor. This can be seen from the actual synopsis which I didn't read. The synopsis asks: "But what if Jeremy isn't just hot...what if Jeremy is better?" And as someone who has read this book, I say that Jeremy is not better. I didn't think much of him and his character for the most part is not good for Carmen. I thought he was scummy and her innocence allowed her to fall for him. A more experienced girl would have past him by and not wasted any time with him.

Overall: Some unique subject matter for YA with decent writing in this debut marred by a lame love interest who comes to dominate the pages.