A Night Twice as Long

by Andrew Simonet

Overview

What do you call the difference between what you should feel and what you do feel? Life?

The blackout has been going on for three weeks. But Alex feels like she’s been living in the dark for a year, ever since her brother, who has autism, was removed from the house, something Alex blames herself for. So when her best friend, Anthony, asks her to trek to another town to figure out the truth about the blackout, Alex says yes.

On a journey that ultimately takes all day and night, Alex’s relationships with Anthony, her brother, and herself will transform in ways that change them all forever.

In this honest and gripping young adult novel, Andrew Simonet spins a propulsive tale about what it means to turn on the lights and look at what’s real.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374309329
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,119,319
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.30(d)
Lexile:	HL570L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Andrew Simonet is a choreographer and writer in Philadelphia. His first novel, Wilder, published in 2018. He co-directed Headlong Dance Theater for twenty years and founded Artists U, an incubator for helping artists make sustainable lives. He lives in West Philadelphia with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two sons, Jesse Tiger and Nico Wolf.

Editorial Reviews

04/12/2021

A mysterious three-week blackout has turned Alexandra, 16, and her neighbors into backyard survivalists. Reclusive since a public incident with her autistic younger brother, Georgie (which resulted in the family being labeled “unfit to provide... proper care, appropriate supervision, or a stable, safe home environment” for him), Alex agrees to accompany best friend Anthony on his 10-mile walk to find a working radio. On their journey, Alex, white, and Anthony, Black, meet with rugged individualists and an off-grid religious group. When a detour results in Georgie running away from school and Alex learning more about the father who abandoned their family after “money became The Issue,” Alex navigates deep sadness mixed with an awakened longing for Anthony. Simonet (Wilder) crafts an emotionally rich story through Alex’s perspective, including the love she has for Georgie and the realistic challenges related to his care. Flash-forwards and flashbacks enhance the plot, dialogue exposes the racial bias and microaggressions that Anthony experiences daily, and discussions of neurodiversity showcase Alex and her family navigating two worlds—Georgie’s autistic experience, and frequently exclusionary “Normie” culture. Simonet illustrates the tenuous line between hope and despair that Alex walks as she makes pivotal choices in a world turned inside out. Ages 12–up. (June)

Publishers Weekly

A BookRiot Recommended Read

"Simonet (author of Wilder, BCCB 11/18) writes with fierce, compact lyricism of the intimacy of such a sibling relationship and the understanding that Alex’s familiarity with Georgie and his cohort brings her about the world (“Normies live in a gated cognitive community”), making it a loving challenge to the medical model of disability. Readers emerging from the pandemic’s darkest shadows will empathize with Alex’s experience, and they’ll appreciate her philosophy: “You’re not like everybody else. But neither is everybody else.” —Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books, starred review

"Simonet illustrates the tenuous line between hope and despair that Alex walks as she makes pivotal choices in a world turned inside out." —Publishers Weekly

"Simonet holds raw humanity up to the light and throws all of life’s jumbled mess together, showing, for example, guilt alongside romance. This book reveals a society forced to shift dramatically, something that feels particularly poignant post-2020. Simonet’s portrayals include the “Nation of Difference,” or the world of disabled people and their families who are shown leading lives that are difficult and joyful, full of nervous fear and also full of love." —Kirkus Reviews

"A mirror for teens responsible for caretaking younger siblings . . . given the ubiquitous uncertainty of the pandemic, many young people will also recognize the feeling of being powerless." —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

07/01/2021

Gr 7 Up—Alex is overwhelmed with guilt by her autistic brother's placement in foster care after he nearly drowns while in her care. She is still reeling from being abandoned by her father, as well as coming to terms with her feelings for her best friend, Anthony. When the power grid mysteriously fails for several weeks, Alex and Anthony head on an Odyssey-like quest on foot to the VFW in a neighboring community where Anthony hopes to radio his mother, who is in the military. Along the way, the duo meets a pair of elderly nudists, a roadside prophet, a cult, and eventually Alex's brother. The plot is rife with coincidences that make it unbelievable, such as Alex connecting with her dad's new girlfriend and daughter. Similarly, some of Alex's observations along the journey and sexual awakening stretch credulity and occasionally take readers out of the story. Still, the book may serve as a mirror for teens responsible for caretaking younger siblings. Given the ubiquitous uncertainty of the pandemic, many young people will also recognize the feeling of being powerless. Alex is white; Anthony's mother is Black and his father is white. VERDICT This coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of an apocalyptic power failure is an additional purchase for large collections.—Jennifer Knight, North Olympic Lib. Syst., Port Angeles, WA

School Library Journal

2021-04-30
The power has been out for three weeks. Everywhere.

No one has electricity, water, phones, or the internet; it’s all just gone. In a rural American town, 16-year-old Alex has been lost in the dark since before the blackout, since that day at the lake a year ago. Soon after those events, Georgie, her nonverbal autistic brother, went to live with a foster family. Now her friend Anthony wants to walk 10 miles to reach someone with a shortwave radio for the chance to maybe, possibly, contact his mother who is away in the Navy. Recognizing his quiet desperation and suddenly, desperately, needing to take control of her life, Alex shaves off her hair and goes with him. Their long walk takes them past nudists, doomsayers, sociable Christians—and Georgie’s school. Simonet holds raw humanity up to the light and throws all of life’s jumbled mess together, showing, for example, guilt alongside romance. This book reveals a society forced to shift dramatically, something that feels particularly poignant post-2020. Simonet’s portrayals include the “Nation of Difference,” or the world of disabled people and their families who are shown leading lives that are difficult and joyful, full of nervous fear and also full of love. The narrative comments upon some of the realities faced by biracial (Black/White) Anthony in contrast to Alex and her White family.

A journey imbued with emotion and worth every step. (Fiction. 13-17)

Kirkus Reviews