Juvenile Fiction
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
April 26, 2016
320
From the critically acclaimed author of The List comes a stunning new novel about a girl who must say goodbye to everything she knows after a storm wreaks havoc on her hometown. Aberdeen is drowning. Keeley Hewitt always has a joke to crack. Except there is nothing funny about her life right now. Her hometown of Aberdeen has always been known for flooding, but after one last terrible storm, the entire town has been told they must evacuate by the end of the summer…for good. How will she say goodbye to everything and everyone she has ever known? Most of the Aberdeen residents happily take the generous payout and look forward to starting over someplace new. But Keeley’s dad isn’t swayed by the overtures of officials or the sheriff’s threats. He refuses to evacuate their family, and Keeley goes from being the funny girl in school, to the last girl in Aberdeen. As the town empties out, two boys compete for her heart. One is a boy she’s had a crush on forever, and the other is one she thinks she could fall in love with. But the water is rising higher and higher, and Keeley is faced with losing everything she’s ever known, and the promise of things she’s only ever wished for…
Review:
2 stars for the main character
4 stars for the plot
I’m going to average out the stars to three on “The Last Boy and Girl in the World” because that is the only fair way to deal with what felt like two separate books.
The story itself is beautiful and haunting. The feeling of love of your hometown and the shock of losing it overnight is described very well. It also points out what can happen when greed and government corruption go up against the poor. Add to it a flawed family that is very relatable and you have a perfect book, right? No.
Keeley, the narrator, almost ruins the entire thing. I’ve never read a character that could be so insecure and yet think so highly of herself in terms of how she’s viewed by her friends, family, and even teachers. Even when confronted with how they really feel she doesn’t get it. In fact, I’m shocked she even managed to have friends. That would have been ok if there had been a character growth arc, but there wasn’t. She suddenly grew up in the last couple of chapters and her relationship with one character is inexplicably fixed even after not seeing one another for months. It felt crammed in as an afterthought.
If you read the book description and “The Last Boy and Girl in the World” sounds interesting to you, then give it a shot. The writing is good, but it just wasn’t for me.
This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warning:
Language, Sexual Situations, Underage Drinking
