Once More with Chutzpah

by Haley Neil

Overview

A moving YA debut about a girl who grapples with questions of her Jewish identity, mental health struggles, and sexuality while on a temple exchange trip through Israel.


When high school senior Tally and her twin brother Max head off on an exchange trip to Israel over their winter break, Tally thinks it will be a good distraction for Max; he might be trying to hide it, but she knows he's still struggling in the wake of a car crash that injured him and killed the driver. Maybe this will help him get back on track and apply to college the way he and Tally always planned.

But as the group travels across the country, Tally realizes her plan might not be working, and that her brother might not be the only one with a lot on his mind. When a new relationship gets complicated in the face of her own anxiety-about her future, her sexual and romantic identity, and her place within the Jewish diaspora-Tally must grapple not only with the past, but also with what life will be like when they get back home.

Debut author Haley Neil offers a relatable and deeply felt story about identity on the cusp of adulthood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547607099
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	196,522
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Haley Neil is a recent MFA grad from The New School, where she specialized in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She previously obtained her Masters in Education while working full time as a preschool teacher. She loves school, teaching, and going to school to learn about teaching (as well as walking her rescue pup through her Massachusetts town and pretending she's on a home baking show). This is her first book.


haleyneil.com
Twitter: @haleyeneil
Instagram: @haleyeneil

Editorial Reviews

2021-11-16
A struggling teenager finds herself abroad.

Eighteen-year-old Tally Gelmont and her twin brother, Max, are off to visit Israel for the first time, on a trip that is not Birthright but shares a lot of similarities with that common Jewish program. Max has been depressed ever since he survived a drunken driving accident; Tally, for her part, is still pretending like she’s unaffected by the incident even though she is dealing with chronic anxiety as well as burgeoning questions about her sexuality. Aside from the setting, this novel has a cookie-cutter vibe: Tally’s interest in musical theater feels tacked on rather than being a well-developed element of her character, and there’s a stereotypical Black new-best-friend character, Jewish Ethiopian American Saron, who exudes one-note Manic Pixie Dream Girl energy (and who calls her “Tally Mark” to the point of annoyance). The novel also includes plenty of earnest conversations between underdeveloped supporting characters during which they blandly discuss their identities (including the White Gelmont twins’ patrilineal Jewish heritage; their mother is Catholic). Tally’s process of discovering her demisexuality just before Jerusalem Pride makes for a very flat climax. The rest of the story is a cheerful "#IVEGOTCHUTZPAH"tour through Israel, occasionally acknowledging the existence of Palestinians, although despite a few moments when the characters comment that “the history is complicated,” the subject is not fully explored.

Takes on complex issues but doesn’t deliver with depth. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews