DECEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Michael Crouch portrays 17-year-old Adam Thorn, who has a complicated emotional life. Adam’s sexuality may never have been discussed openly in his evangelical family, but this hasn’t stopped his many feelings. Crouch expresses Adam’s pain over a past breakup and an unwanted advance by his boss. He also dramatizes Adam’s long-term hurt at his family’s judgments and preference for his religious brother. These problems are balanced by the support of Adam’s current boyfriend and long-term best friend, as well as her adoptive family. Writer and narrator depict gay sexuality honestly and poignantly. Crouch also creates a strong tone for the eerie interspersed chapters, which are voiced by the ghost of a recently murdered girl, and makes clear her connections to Adam’s life. S.W. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
The New York Times Book Review - Marjorie Ingall
Every sentence in this gorgeous little novel feels perfect and necessary. Ness…has said that Release is influenced by two classics: Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway and Judy Blume's Forever. (I know, right?) The book has the structure of the former—a vast amount of emotional action packed into a single day—and the hyperintensity, sexual heat and empathy for teenagers of the latter…Adam and his friends are very funny, and seeing flawed characters trying their hardest to forgive and to grow is truly touching…Ness's writing is lush without seeming to strain…In an era when young adult books often feel bloated and meandering, this focused, humane book is a joy.
Publishers Weekly
★ 07/03/2017
A heartbreaking dual narrative follows Adam, a gay teenager with homophobic parents, and the ghost of a classmate murdered by her meth-addicted boyfriend, over the course of one, defining day. In the hours before a going-away party for his first love, Adam Thorn has fateful confrontations with his evangelical pastor father and with the creepy boss who has been sexually harassing him. But the real bombshell is dropped when Angela, a friend Adam relies on, announces that she’s moving from Washington State to the Netherlands for senior year. Ness (The Rest of Us Just Live Here) interleaves Adam’s multipronged crisis with a strand tracking the murdered girl’s spirit as it seeks revenge (in the company of a seven-foot-tall faun) against her killer. Adam’s story dominates the narrative and provides a frank, riveting portrayal of a gay teenager’s sexual awakening (an endnote acknowledges the influence of both Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Blume’s Forever). The paranormal storyline isn’t quite as affecting as the plotline that follows Adam, but it conveys a sense of the mystery that can infuse ordinary lives. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michelle Kass, Michelle Kass Associates. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Every sentence in this gorgeous little novel feels perfect and necessary. This focused, humane book is a joy.” — The New York Times Book Review
★ “Part character study, part reckoning, this is a painful, magical gem of a novel that, even when it perplexes, will rip the hearts right out of its readers.” — Booklist (starred review)
★ “Literary, illuminating, and stunningly told.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★ “A frank, riveting portrayal of a gay teenager’s sexual awakening.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ “Ness manages to pack all this drama into a coherent and compulsively readable story line peopled with credible, rounded characters among the teens and the adults.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“This book’s self-awareness lends its events a dreamlike feel. Though it functions as an accessible, standalone coming-of-age story, awareness of its influences makes for a layered reading experience.” — The Horn Book
“Patrick Ness is an insanely beautiful writer.” — John Green
“Release is beautiful, enchanting, exquisitely written; the novel builds to an adrenaline-surged ending that only Patrick Ness can deliver. This is an incredible work of intertwined, mirrored stories that left me slack-jawed and in awe of one of the true master storytellers of our time.” — Andrew Smith, Michael L. Printz Honor–winning author of Grasshopper Jungle and Winger
“Hilarious, gripping, and viciously insightful throughout. The novel’s main points are continuously, beautifully conveyed: family consists of people chosen as much as those related by blood; and while all meaningful and positive relationships are difficult and messy, their maintenance is essential for fulfillment.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“This compelling coming-of-age story will resonate with readers of all ages, and will remind everyone that the sun always rises again tomorrow.” — Brightly
“I was gripped by Adam’s journey to self-belief, told pacily, beautifully.” — London Times
Brightly
This compelling coming-of-age story will resonate with readers of all ages, and will remind everyone that the sun always rises again tomorrow.
Booklist (starred review)
★ “Part character study, part reckoning, this is a painful, magical gem of a novel that, even when it perplexes, will rip the hearts right out of its readers.
John Green
Patrick Ness is an insanely beautiful writer.
The New York Times Book Review
Every sentence in this gorgeous little novel feels perfect and necessary. This focused, humane book is a joy.
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Hilarious, gripping, and viciously insightful throughout. The novel’s main points are continuously, beautifully conveyed: family consists of people chosen as much as those related by blood; and while all meaningful and positive relationships are difficult and messy, their maintenance is essential for fulfillment.
The Horn Book
This book’s self-awareness lends its events a dreamlike feel. Though it functions as an accessible, standalone coming-of-age story, awareness of its influences makes for a layered reading experience.
Andrew Smith
“Release is beautiful, enchanting, exquisitely written; the novel builds to an adrenaline-surged ending that only Patrick Ness can deliver. This is an incredible work of intertwined, mirrored stories that left me slack-jawed and in awe of one of the true master storytellers of our time.
London Times
I was gripped by Adam’s journey to self-belief, told pacily, beautifully.
London Times
I was gripped by Adam’s journey to self-belief, told pacily, beautifully.
Brightly.com
This compelling coming-of-age story will resonate with readers of all ages, and will remind everyone that the sun always rises again tomorrow.
School Library Journal
★ 09/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Adam, a rising senior with complex social and familial relationships, experiences the worst day of his life to date. The former boyfriend for whom he still has romantic feelings, and his BFF—witty and wise Korean adoptee Angela who might be into both guys and girls—are both going away; his older brother, a seminary student, has gotten a new girlfriend pregnant and turns to Adam to help smooth the way for breaking the news to their fundamentalist preacher father; and Adam's boss fires him when the boy won't accept his sexual advances. Ness manages to pack all this drama into a coherent and compulsively readable story line peopled with credible, rounded characters among the teens and the adults. A secondary plot thread involves a supernatural event unfolding in the same small town, but this extra layer doesn't adhere to Adam's story in any manner that enriches either. Adam's emotional geography is fully stripped and revealed through his conversations with those in his life and his actions. He feels rejected by his parents for his gay identity, which they refuse to acknowledge, and worries about whether he is capable of treating his new boyfriend fairly in light of his lingering feelings for his former one. While there is explicit sex depicted here, it falls well within the bounds of YA and is important in building plot and characters. Discussions revolving around a repressive version of fundamentalist Christianity are also relevant and realistic. VERDICT An excellent choice for all teen collections.—Francisca Goldsmith, Library Ronin, Worcester, MA
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2017-07-02
An extraordinary, ordinary day in the life of Adam Thorn.Seventeen-year-old, tall, white, blond, evangelical-raised Adam begins his day buying chrysanthemums for his overbearing, guilt-inducing mother. From the get-go, some readers may recognize one of many deliberate, well-placed Virginia Woolf references throughout the narrative. He goes on a long run. He has lunch with his bright, smart-alecky best friend, Angela Darlington, who was born in Korea and adopted by her white parents. In a particularly uncomfortable scene, he is sexually harassed by his boss. He also partakes in a 30-plus-page act of intimacy that leaves little to the imagination with his new boyfriend, Linus, also white. The scene is fairly educational, but it's also full of laughter, true intimacy, discomfort, mixed feelings, and more that elevate it far beyond pure physicality. Meanwhile, in parallel vignettes, the ghost of a murdered teenage girl armed with more Woolf references eerily haunts the streets and lake where she was killed. Her story permeates the entire narrative and adds a supernatural, creepy context to the otherwise small town. What makes these scenes rise about the mundane is Ness' ability to drop highly charged emotion bombs in the least expected places and infuse each of them with poignant memories, sharp emotions, and beautifully rendered scenes that are so moving it may cause readers to pause and reflect. Literary, illuminating, and stunningly told. (Fiction. 14-18)
