Publishers Weekly
★ 01/13/2020
Not long after she and her sisters tried to run away during San Antonio’s Fiesta celebration, Ana Torres, 17, fell from her bedroom window and died. A year later, her largely absent father, Rafe, has descended into grief, leaving his other daughters, Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, to clean up his messes. Each sister copes differently with Ana’s death: Jessica, involved with Ana’s abusive former boyfriend, simmers with barely restrained anger; Iridian internalizes her pain and finds solace in reading and writing; and Rosa, who has an uncanny connection to the natural world and its creatures, seeks a hyena escaped from the zoo that she believes may be connected to Ana. When strange things start happening, the sisters think that Ana’s angry ghost may want something from them. Mabry (All the Wind in the World) peppers a few gut punches throughout a story largely grounded in the ordinary, and the stark contrasts highlight the eerie power of the otherworldly events. Leading up to the slightly ambiguous ending, the Latinx sisters’ multiple narratives read more like a series of vignettes than a cohesive whole. Still, Mabry speaks gracefully to the transformative power of grief and the often messy (even violent) road to letting go. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Writers League of Texas Book Award Winner * MPIBA Reading the West Award Winner * Indie Next pick * Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book * SLJ Best Book * Shelf Awareness Best Book * BCCB Blue Ribbon List title * A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick * A White Ravens List pick * NEA Read Across America title * A Must-Read Novel According to BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Ms. Magazine, BookPage, Publishers Weekly, Tor.com, and D Magazine
“A moody and unflinching examination of the gritty, tender and impossible parts of people that make them unforgettably whole. You don't read Samantha Mabry’s books so much as experience them. Ferocious and gorgeously crafted. I loved it.”—Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of Sadie
* “Mabry speaks gracefully to the transformative power of grief and the often messy (even violent) road to letting go.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "Borrowing elements of magical realism and Latinx folklore, this is a story that is often uncomfortable; in its quest to explore grief, family, and the traumas inflicted by each, it lays its characters utterly and unforgettably bare.”—Booklist, starred review
* "A lyrical contemporary YA with a dose of magical realism, Tigers, Not Daughters is an empowering portrait of grief, sisterhood and resilience."—Shelf Awareness, starred review
* “Mabry's third novel has echoes of The Virgin Suicides . . . The evocative language and deft characterization will haunt—and empower—readers.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* “Little Women meets The Virgin Suicides with a magical realist twist in this evocative and lovely novel . . . An engaging, heartfelt exploration of the multifaceted inner lives of teen girls and sisterhood.”—School Library Journal, starred review
* "This is quietly searing tale of sisterly love and family secrets, of a grief so big it swallows its mourners up, blotting out the future and distorting the past . . . an appealingly unsettling infusion of ambiguous faith and unexplained miracles.”—BCCB, starred review
“Move over, Louisa May Alcott! Samantha Mabry has written her very own magical Little Women for our times. This is no family of tamed girls but a clan of fierce and fighting young women who will draw readers into their spell. A celebration of the bonds of sisterhood and of the ways we heal by reaching beyond our losses, our brokenness and fears to the love that holds and heals.”—Julia Alvarez, author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
"Samantha Mabry is just a beautiful writer. You should definitely read it."—Veronica Roth, New York Times bestselling author of the Divergent series
“The National Book Award-nominated author spins another hauntingly moving tale of teenhood with this story of sisters mourning one of their own, only to realize she might still be walking among them . . . somehow.”—Entertainment Weekly
"Like Mabry's previous books, I found that Tigers, Not Daughters is all about the atmosphere and feelings. The small town where the Torres sisters dwell feels so real . . . Mabry's language and tone are both lush and poetic, but that doesn't stop these tiger girls from having teeth.”—NPR
"A shivery, magical exploration of the power of sisterhood.”—People
"One of the most crucial voices in young adult literature."—Bustle
"Samantha Mabry gives us paranormal magical realism at its best with her latest YA novel."—Ms.
“Mabry’s moody writing paints a picture of a grief-stricken family mired in grief and seemingly doom to stay there. The descriptions are sensory, visceral, and weird… The story’s climax is chaotic and cathartic—and it ultimately presents a path forward for the sisters.”—Horn Book Magazine
"The kind of story that digs its claws deep into you. Though just under 300 pages, Mabry crafts a profoundly character driven plot that explores grief, depression, and sisterhood . . . A powerful story, filled with impactful characters and realistic depictions of grief and depression. Paired with its eerie paranormal elements, Tigers, Not Daughters will haunt your thoughts long after you’ve finished reading.”—The Nerd Daily
“This fierce, unforgettable whirlwind of a novel, a wondrous mix of ghost story and drama of sisterly rebellion, holds the reader in thrall from the first sentence to the final page.”—The Buffalo News
"This book is as if you took The Virgin Suicides, mixed it a with Little Women, and weaved it all together with King Lear. Read it, if you are a fan of any of these titles."—The Young Folks
“Samantha Mabry blends elements of magical realism, moments of connection and grief, and genuinely eerie scares to create a story exploring the ‘magic in small things,’ as well as a timely ode to sisterhood and feminism.”—The Washington Independent Review of Books
"Mabry is one of our of city’s finest writers.”—D Magazine
School Library Journal
★ 02/01/2020
Gr 7 Up—Little Women meets The Virgin Suicides with a magical realist twist in this evocative and lovely novel. There used to be four Torres sisters: Ana, Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa. Each with a strong individual personality, they captivated the boys of their San Antonio neighborhood with their beauty and ferocity. But when Ana died, falling out of her window, the sisters each reacted to their grief differently. Jessica tried to replace Ana in her old life, Iridian lost herself in books, and spiritual Rosa became preoccupied by looking for signs to explain why this happened. But their memories are tangible as well as mental, as Ana's ghost haunts them in the form of mysterious occurrences in their house. Much of the plot, told from multiple points of view, examines how the family members balance their personal challenges with their grief. Ultimately, Ana's ghost is the impetus for the surviving sisters to reconnect and find the strength to move forward, together. Similar to the March sisters, the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice, and the three sisters in King Lear (which inspired this book's title), Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa have competitive, at times jealousy-tinged, but ultimately loving relationships. Mabry's lyrical style weaves themes of sisterhood, death, and romance along with Shakespearean inspiration and paranormal elements to create something magical. VERDICT This novel is sure to appeal to fans of Mabry's other works, and could serve as an introduction to magical realism for those unfamiliar with the genre. An engaging, heartfelt exploration of the multifaceted inner lives of teen girls and sisterhood.—Ann Foster, Saskatoon Public Library, Sask.
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2019-12-21
A ghostly tale of revenge and the strength of the sisterly bond.
The four Torres sisters have fascinated the boys in their San Antonio neighborhood for years. Each with her own quirky personality, they all suffer from the suffocating hold their widower father has over them. While attempting to sneak out, Ana, the oldest, fatally falls from a tree. A year later, her angry spirit begins to haunt their home. The novel alternates between a first-person perspective by an unnamed narrator—one of the boys across the street—and the points of view of each sister, narrated in the third person. The chapters jump from past to present, dropping hints about what truly happened and why Ana is haunting her old home. The Torres sisters mourn in their own ways—Jessica tries to become Ana, even dating her abusive boyfriend; Iridian stays inside reading Ana's romance novels; and Rosa attends church and hopes to commune with animals. The author adeptly portrays the claustrophobia of living in a small town and being under the watch of an overbearing patriarchal figure—in fact, the male gaze is the true enemy in this novel, and it's only when the young women join forces that they're able to break free of its oppressive ties. Mabry's (All the Wind in the World, 2017, etc.) third novel has echoes of The Virgin Suicides. The protagonists are Latinx.
The evocative language and deft characterization will haunt—and empower—readers. (Magical realism. 14-adult)
