A Flicker in the Clarity

by Amy McNamara

Hardcover, 2018

Status

Available

Call number

YA A McN

Publication

HarperTeen (HarperCollins) [First Edition]

Pages

423

Description

Award-winning author Amy McNamara explores the emotional fallout after a girl cuts ties with her best friend. Perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Jennifer Niven. Evie and Emma are inseparable. Two halves of a whole, they balance each other until Evie makes a flip decision that gets Emma in serious trouble. Feeling the sting of betrayal, Emma freezes Evie out. Evie is full of regret, desperately sorry, sad, and--for the first time in her life--entirely alone. Then Evie meets Theo, a boy who offers her a view of the world through a different lens. Just as she lets herself fall for Theo, Emma resurfaces--but not without consequence. Emma's erratic behavior, drunken mishaps, and panicked phone calls leave Evie afraid there's something deeper going on. Evie wants to help Emma, but Emma is bent on self-destruction. All Evie wanted was her friend back--but can you help someone who doesn't want to be saved?… (more)

Description

For as long as Evie can remember, she and Emma have been best friends. They’ve gone through everything together—only Evie understood what it was like for Emma to lose her older brother in a car accident. And though they couldn’t be more different—Emma is the life of the party while Evie is shy—the dynamic has always worked for them.

But then Evie makes a careless mistake that ends up having serious consequences for Emma. They’ve had their squabbles before, but this is different. When Evie tries to apologize, Emma ignores her texts, gets a new best friend, and completely freezes her out. Evie didn’t mean to betray Emma in the way that she did, and she’s desperate to get back in Emma’s good graces. Who is Evie without Emma?

Then Evie meets Theo, a kindred spirit unlike any boy she’s ever encountered. With him, she can at least pretend like her life is normal. But just as she’s about to let go and fully fall into whatever is happening with him, Emma resurfaces, miraculously letting Evie back in—though it’s not without consequence. Erratic behavior, drunken incidents, and panicked late-night calls are only some of the hoops Emma makes Evie jump through. All Evie has wanted is to get her best friend back—but Emma seems hell-bent on self-destruction. Evie is used to swooping in to pull Emma out of her troubles, but how do you help someone who doesn’t want to be saved?

Collection

Barcode

7118

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

423 p.; 8.6 inches

ISBN

0062308343 / 9780062308344

User reviews

LibraryThing member iwriteinbooks
Emma and Evie have been friends for as long as they can remember though they are as different as any two high schoolers can be. They balance each other in their best moments and repel each other in their worst.

I spend a lot of time clucking my tongue and sighing at the lack of attention given to
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the nitty-gritty side of mental health in fiction.

There is often an emphasis on normal-spiral-treatment-healed.

A Flicker In the Clarity does no such thing.

Emma and Evie both stumble through their traumas and grief in their own ways, leaning on each other and away from each other in less than healthy or neatly tied up ways.

Because their journeys were presented in realistic, messy ways, the entire book felt pretty frustrating but that was what I loved about it, too.

The writing as beautiful and the story was authentic. In moments of frustration, I had to remind myself that the way each young woman was acting (either acting out or enabling of the other) was far closer to reality than I had come across before this particular book. When I could step back and gain that perspective, I was able to truly appreciate the raw beauty of the book.
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Rating

(2 ratings; 3)

Call number

YA A McN
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