Gena/Finn

by Hannah Moskowitz, Kat Helgeson

Overview

Gena and Finn would have never met but for their mutual love for the popular show Up Below. Regardless of their differences—Gena is a recent high school graduate whose social life largely takes place online, while Finn is in her early twenties, job hunting and contemplating marriage with her longtime boyfriend—the two girls realize that the bond between them transcends fanfiction. When disaster strikes and Gena's world turns upside down, only Finn can save her, and that, too, comes with a price. Told through emails, text messages, journal entries, and blog posts, Gena/Finn is a story of friendship and love in the digital age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452138398
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	05/17/2016
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	850L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Hannah Moskowitz is the acclaimed author of numerous middle grade and young adult novels, including A History of Glitter and Blood. She lives in New York City.

Kat Helgeson writes young adult novels and lives in Chicago with her husband and a healthy preoccupation with fictional characters.

Editorial Reviews

01/11/2016
Once a child TV star, Gena is a college-bound fan-fiction writer who is obsessed with one of the leads from her favorite show, Up Below. With loving yet absent parents, wealthy 18-year-old Gena gravitates toward her online Up Below community of reviewers and writers. When she meets 22-year-old super fan and blogger Finn, short for Stephanie, the two develop a bond that stretches into romance, despite the age difference between them, not to mention Finn’s live-in boyfriend, Charlie. As Gena and Finn grow closer, Finn’s fledgling career and relationships start to unwind, creating a listlessness and fear mirrored in Gena’s slow descent into depression and the return of childhood hallucinations. While the authors’ use of a jumble of formats—texts, chat messages, emails, comment threads, browser histories, and more—vividly portrays the minute-to-minute nature of modern communication and serves to question whether virtual lives can be more fulfilling than reality, the framework lessens the impact of significant emotional moments. Still, when Gena faces a life-changing tragedy, Finn and Charlie’s compassion highlights the elasticity of love, family, and identity. Ages 12–up. Agent: John Cusick, Greenhouse Literary Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"I liked Gena and I liked Finn, not just as characters but as people. Although their experiences were different from mine, I could see myself in both women—all of the uncertainty and indecisiveness and insecurity."— Billie Bloebaum, A Children's Place, Portland, OR

"This portrayal of the fan world is spot-on. focused firmly on the real, messy relationships that can form in the digital age."—Booklist

"I liked Gena and I liked Finn, not just as characters but as people. Although their experiences were different from mine, I could see myself in both women—all of the uncertainty and indecisiveness and insecurity."— Billie Bloebaum, A Children's Place, Portland, OR

"Everything is messy and heartfelt and ugh I am so deeply into it."—Book Riot

"There's quite a bit of resonance to be found within the pages of this book for anyone who's part of an online community, as well as a poignant story told in a very unique way."—Rally the Readers

"Everything is messy and heartfelt and ugh I am so deeply into it."—Book Riot

"There's quite a bit of resonance to be found within the pages of this book for anyone who's part of an online community, as well as a poignant story told in a very unique way."—Rally the Readers

"It's very satisfying to see this moment in fandom and Internet-originating relationships so capably represented."-Kirkus Reviews

"If Hannah Moskowitz writes it-or in this case, co-writes it-I will read it."—Leila Roy, Bookshelves of Doom, a Kirkus Reviews Blog

"It's very satisfying to see this moment in fandom and Internet-originating relationships so capably represented."-Kirkus Reviews

"If Hannah Moskowitz writes it-or in this case, co-writes it-I will read it."—Leila Roy, Bookshelves of Doom, a Kirkus Reviews Blog

"Allows readers to close the cover pondering all the different ways humans can love."-School Library Journal

"Vividly portrays the minute-to-minute nature of modern communication."-Publishers Weekly

"Allows readers to close the cover pondering all the different ways humans can love."-School Library Journal

"Vividly portrays the minute-to-minute nature of modern communication."-Publishers Weekly

"This portrayal of the fan world is spot-on. focused firmly on the real, messy relationships that can form in the digital age."—Booklist

From the Publisher

02/01/2016
Gr 9 Up—Gena and Finn are strangers who are both on the verge of new beginnings. Finn is a recent college graduate desperately searching for a job in a hard economy and living with her long-term boyfriend, who wants more from her than she is able to give. Gena is finishing her final term at high school and is looking anxiously toward college. She is starting to question her past relationships and high school identity, while also stumbling trying to realize her future self. Both young women find an escape and solace from the pressures of the real world in their love of a television show, fan fiction and, eventually, each other. This is a love story told mostly through blog posts, texts, and other media of the digital age. The plotline starts strong and builds very well until about halfway through, where intentions and believability become a bit muddled. However, Moskowitz and Helgeson deliver the book soundly on its feet with an ending that allows readers to close the cover pondering all the different ways humans can love. VERDICT A unique work that will connect with teens who love fandoms.—Ellen Fitzgerald, White Oak Library District, Lockport, IL

School Library Journal

2016-02-02
Two devoted members of an emotional cop drama's fandom meet online and feel an instant bond. Gena is a high-achieving senior at a ritzy boarding school, restless and yearning both socially and intellectually for college. Finn is 22, receiving a steady stream of job rejections and ambivalent about living with her boyfriend, Charlie. Finn writes Gena a note about a recent fic, Gena admires Finn's fan art, and soon they're in the throes of an intense friendship, emailing constantly, confiding details about their lives, and making plans to attend a fan convention together. At the convention, Gena is outed as a former child actor who starred in a popular sitcom with one of the leads of Up Below, and when Finn visits Gena at college, they both acknowledge their mutual attraction. Naturally, this intensity isn't sustainable. The narrative is made up entirely of Gena's fanfics, Finn's art, emails, and text-message transcripts. Through it, readers learn that Gena's parents fund a series of globe-trotting adventures using her sitcom earnings and that as she enters college, she's no longer able to get treatment for the dangerous hallucinations that ended her acting career. Events come to a head after a tragic incident on the set of Up Below, and this concluding section is the novel's one weak spot, vaguely petering out after a propulsive, assured beginning. Overall, though, it's very satisfying to see this moment in fandom and Internet-originating relationships so capably represented. (Fiction. 14-17)

Kirkus Reviews