"Written through text messages, blog posts, letters, journal entries, and more, Davis’s smart and witty debut captures a girl’s changing attitude and gradual acclimation to a very different environment. Filled with vibrant characters, it balances gentle jabs at pop culture and self-righteousness with thought-provoking ideas about feminist ideals and human frailties." —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Thoughtful and provocative." —Kirkus Reviews
"Told via letters, emails, and journal entries, this book insightfully handles a problematic relationship and presents a flawed, intelligent, and well-crafted protagonist." —School Library Journal
"A hilarious and vibrant voice that leaps from the page, delivering a nuanced and immersive reading experience." —Adi Alsaid, author of Let's Get Lost and Somewhere Over the Sun
"Flora is truly one of a kind, and her story celebrates all the awkward, brilliant confusion of being young. Warm and hilarious and genuine—I’ve never read anything quite like it." —Amy Zhang, author of This is Where The World Ends and Falling Into Place
“It’s magic to find such levels of bracing intelligence and vulnerable warmth in one book. Hilarious, incisive, and light on its feet, Everything Must Go is a treat for anyone who’s ever gone to great lengths to belong.” —Eliot Schrefer, author of National Book Award Finalists Endangered and Threatened
"Clever, funny, self-deprecating (in the best of ways), and decidedly, fashionably feminist, Flora is a heroine for girls with a longing for romance, an affinity for the intellectual and the old-fashioned, and a particular flair for the dramatic. Flora is for all of us, in other words! And Davis, her creator, absolutely hilarious. Not to be missed!" —Donna Freitas, author of Unplugged and The Body Market
08/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Flora Goldwasser creates a diary that speaks to readers directly, recounting the tale of how her brief relationship with an older man (a college-age tutor) not only turned her into a social media darling but also into the kind of lovesick teenager who would move to his alma mater because she thought it would bring him back to her. Flora poses for Elijah, never dreaming that her devotion to and knowledge of vintage fashion will bring her a cult following. Flora remains loyal to Elijah long after she starts her junior year at Quare, an exclusive school with only 16 students per year. Quare cultivates an environment that is intended to encourage student inclusivity; this includes shunning any discussion of privilege or "shell speak" about superficial looks or things that cannot be changed. Flora initially struggles to fit in given her feelings and propensity toward fashion and material goods. She slowly begins to make a place in Guild, the school's drama group, where she is able to turn her anger into a project for school when Elijah leaves her the day after they have sex. Her friendships, both new and old, and her strong ties with her family are well-portrayed. Told via letters, emails, and journal entries, this book insightfully handles a problematic relationship and presents a flawed, intelligent, and well-crafted protagonist. VERDICT A good choice for public and high school libraries.—Betsy Fraser, Calgary Public Library, Canada
2017-06-27
Flora, a "white, wealthy, and able-bodied" Manhattanite fashionista, hoped to win her tutor's affections by attending the rural, Quaker-run boarding school that's his alma mater during her junior year of high school.Now, three years later, she uses archived documents including journal entries, emails, and press clippings so readers see "the story happen in just the way it happened, in all its urgency and all its absurdity." She details her rocky adjustment to a school that includes all the expected stereotypes: gradeless classrooms, rustic accommodations, and vegan cafeteria options. Avoiding commentary on personal appearances, or "shell speak," is especially difficult for Flora. And the sense that she's merely playing a role leads to feelings of social isolation. But after her tutor "fucks and ducks" on Flora, the school's artistic opportunities facilitate her examination of whether "baseless love, this love that doesn't have to be earned" exists or whether even consensual sexual acts are transactional in nature. Fittingly, Flora doesn't necessarily reach an answer, though her wryly inserted modern commentary on her younger self indicates that present-day Flora continues exploring ideas on appearance and social interactions. The core of Flora's journey presents opportunities for readers to grapple with gender, sex, race, classism—even Marxism—although detailed explorations of all those complicated topics are too much for a single narrative. Thoughtful and provocative, if a tad overstuffed. (Fiction. 14-18)
