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Ellen loves Link and James. Her older brother and his best friend are the only company she ever wants. She knows they fight, but she makes it a policy never to take sides. She loves her brother, the math genius and track star. And she is totally, madly in love with James, with his long eyelashes and hidden smiles. “When you grow out of it,” James teases her, “you will break my heart.” Then someone at school asks if Link and James might be in love with each other. A simple question. But the answer is far from simple, and its repercussions affect their entire lives. This extraordinary, multiple award-winning novel is funny, heartbreaking, and messy—just like its characters, just like life.
书评
From Publishers Weekly
Narrator Ellen learns about love, family and "society's unwritten rules" in this sophisticated but gentle novel set in Manhattan. Ellen adores her older brother, Link, and has had a crush on Link's best friend, James, since seventh grade. But at 14, when she starts high school, popular classmate Adena, who really likes Link, mentions to Ellen: "They're like a couple, aren't they?" Freymann-Weyr (When I Was Older) subtly and authentically follows Ellen's thought process as the question triggers a series of responses: "I resolve never to ask them. Ever. I resolve to put it out of my mind. There is no reason for me to know." Yet Ellen reviews their past behavior for clues. When Ellen finally frames the question to Link and James ("I spear a cherry with an unused fork... and ask if they are a couple"), Link denies it, avoids James and gets a girlfriend. Ellen and James, meanwhile, grow closer. As their relationship becomes physical, some inconsistencies surface (e.g., why, if Ellen is so loyal to her brother, would she "date" James?). But the sensitivity with which the author handles the issues of whom one loves and complexities more far-reaching than sexual concerns outweigh these minor matters. Ellen relates telling details about herself and those around her with humor and compassion, exposing the many dimensions of her parents as well as the three featured teens. A thoughtful approach to the many confusing signals that accompany awakening sexuality. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up-Garrett Freymann-Weyr's novel (Houghton, 2002) about a teen's maturing understanding of friends, family, and self is brought to vivid life in Christy Carlson Romano's fast-paced reading. Fourteen-year-old Ellen has known James most of her life, as he is her older brother Lincoln's long-term best friend. Just as she realizes that she has developed a romantic crush on James, he and Linc appear to have a significant falling out. The revelation that James is gay not only plays havoc with Ellen's romantic designs-although they do manage to consummate their youthful admiration for each other with honestly drawn sexual encounters-but pits Linc into a silent war against his former bosom buddy. Ellen and her circle are moneyed New Yorkers, but their story is relevant and resonant beyond culture and class. How friendships pause and then restart, how teens let themselves peek a little at a time into their own and their families' souls are among the truths eloquently played out here, with humor as well as angst. Romano's youthful tenor fits Ellen just right, making this a bit like listening to a young friend share her observations and experiences.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From AudioFile
When three characters are closely linked in a story, it's imperative that the narrator select unique voices for each person. My Heartbeat is a love triangle, delicately unfolded by young Ellen, who adores her older brother, Link, and falls from puppy love into intimate love with Link's best friend, James. Yet high school rumor has it that James and Link used to be more than friends. As Ellen tries to figure out all the relationships in her life, she comes to realize that sometimes you just can't know everything about a person. Christy Carlson Romano is a tender Ellen-changing from a sweet naïf to a mature young woman while never losing her thoughtful introspection. Unfortunately, it's hard to distinguish Ellen's inner thoughts from Link's and James's when voice changes are too subtle.M.M.O. Winner of 2004 ALA/ YALSA Recording © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 8-12. This beautiful novel tells a frank, upbeat story of teen bisexual love in all its uncertainty, pain, and joy. Ellen, 14, has always been very close with her brilliant older brother, Link, and since seventh grade she's been "totally madly in love" with Link's gorgeous best friend, James. She hangs out with the boys as they watch classic foreign movies and talk and argue about books and art and everything. Unlike the teen characters in many recent YA novels, Ellen isn't shocked to discover that the boy she loves is gay. She's always known that James loves her brother. When the rumors start at school that Link and James are a "couple," Link breaks away, won't talk about it, starts a relationship with a girl, and deliberately scuttles his college-entrance exams. Finally Ellen has James to herself. He has had sex with men and he loves Link, but he also loves her. There's some contrived interweaving of the classics Ellen is reading--Pride and Prejudice ("boring!"), Jane Eyre ("the best ever")--but readers will appreciate the connections. The fast, clipped dialogue will sweep teens into the story, as will Ellen's immediate first-person, present-tense narrative, "curious, careful, kind, and intense." The family dynamics are just as compelling as the love and friendship drama, especially Ellen's bewilderment about the unwritten laws that can make people strangers even within the family they love. See the Read-alikes column, opposite, for more books about the confusion and complications of sexual identity. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Breathtaking in the purity of its emotions and in its refusal to pigeonhole any of its characters, it will engage readers to the very last page. (Kirkus Reviews)
Review
"...it will engage teen readers to the very last page."--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
| ISBN | 0142400661/978014240 |
|---|---|
| 出版社 | Puffin Books |
| 尺寸 | 20开 |