{"id":807,"date":"2018-12-31T14:05:49","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=807"},"modified":"2018-12-31T14:05:49","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:05:49","slug":"lone-star-book-reviewsby-michelle-newby-nbcccontributing-editor-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=807","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book ReviewsBy Michelle Newby, NBCCContributing Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>Michelle Newby<\/span> is a reviewer for Kirkus Reviews<\/span> and Foreword Reviews, <\/span>writer, blogger at TexasBookLover.com, member of the Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop advisory committee, and a moderator for the Texas Book Festival. Her reviews appear in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, Concho River Review, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, The Rumpus, PANK Magazine,<\/span> and The Collagist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/span>YA FICTION<\/p>\n

Kay Honeyman<\/span><\/p>\n

Interference<\/span><\/p>\n

Arthur A. Levine Books\/Scholastic<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-0-5458-1232-0 (also available as an e-book, and on Audible), 352 pgs., $17.99<\/p>\n

September 27, 2016<\/p>\n

Kate Hamilton and her parents have returned to her father\u2019s roots<\/span> in the fictional town of Red Dirt, Texas (\u201cthe hairy, dry big toe of the earth\u201d), in the aftermath of a political scandal that was kinda sorta Kate\u2019s fault, culminating in her father\u2019s dropping out of a re-election campaign for his congressional seat in the Hamiltons\u2019 adopted North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Culture shock ensues as sophisticated, politically savvy, sixteen-year-old Kate works on transitioning from Washington, D.C., to a rural West Texas high school (\u201cYou [Kate] took a class called Ethics of Science. I\u2019m not really sure what that is, but since you had credit for biology, physics, and chemistry, I put you in Agricultural Sciences\u201d) in the middle of high school football playoffs (where Kate discovers the joys of Frito pie). When her father decides to challenge his former high-school teammate for Red Dirt\u2019s congressional seat in a special election, all the old stresses return. After several false starts, Kate learns that interference earns you a penalty in life, as well as on the football field, even if you\u2019re trying to help.<\/p>\n

Interference<\/span> is Kay Honeyman\u2019s<\/span> second young-adult fiction title. Kate\u2019s first-person narrative of a coming-of-age-as-a-fish-out-of-water story should be required reading for politicians with teenagers. Slip it in with their briefing books. There is more to Interference<\/span> than first meets the eye.<\/p>\n

The characters are evenly divided between stereotypical and complex. Kate is particularly interesting. Confident, smart, dedicated, and talented, she\u2019s also frequently a presumptuous busybody, forever practicing political spin on everyone in her path, especially driven to level the field when she uncovers inequity. Kate has a good heart, but she\u2019s convinced she can fix anyone and any situation\u2014a \u201cwin-win,\u201d in her family\u2019s political parlance. The character and relationship development afforded Kate and her father are particularly affective.<\/p>\n

Interference<\/span> is equal parts comedy and drama, befitting teenagers. Honeyman excels at dialogue. A conversation between Kate and a friend:<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople change. Not everyone is determined to be a complete jerk their entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you underestimate Kyle\u2019s commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instructions from a campaign manager to her volunteers:<\/p>\n

\u201cStick to the phone script, people,\u201d India said in the living room. \u201cI want to know what they think of the candidates, not what happened at the eye doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Gladys?\u201d someone called out.<\/p>\n

There are clever metaphors in science class (\u201cAnts are more powerful as a group than individually. They create whole empires with collective will\u201d), and Kate\u2019s love of photography (\u201cThe darkroom at my old school had been my sanctuary. It was easy to control. You timed every step. There were no politics, no power plays. Everything was black and white, light and dark\u201d). Honeyman has a just-right, light touch when things get heavy.<\/p>\n

Interference<\/span> has a well-constructed plot, moving along quickly and steadily, packing several nice twists. City kid moves to hick town is a familiar, comfortable scenario, but Honeyman\u2019s tale feels fresh thanks to her engaging characters, and timely thanks to the political themes. It\u2019s a win-win.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Newby is a reviewer for Kirkus Reviews and Foreword Reviews, writer, blogger at TexasBookLover.com, member of the Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop advisory committee, and a moderator for the Texas Book Festival. Her reviews appear in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, Concho River Review, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, The Rumpus, PANK Magazine, and The Collagist. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}