CANR
WORK TITLE: When I Am Through with You
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1974?
WEBSITE: http://stephaniekuehn.com/
CITY: Martinez
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 307
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-kuehn-5b5a12b http://www.peterysussman.com/bio/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1974; daughter of Peter and Patricia Sussman; married William Kuehn; children: Sidney, Tessa, Severin.
EDUCATION:University of California, Santa Cruz, B.A., 1995; John F. Kennedy University, M.A., 2010; earned Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Previously worked in a bookstore and in circulation and forecasting for Title Nine Sports.
AVOCATIONS:Running and reading.
AWARDS:William C. Morris Award, 2014, for Charm & Strange; Northern California Book Award for children’s literature for older readers, 2016, for Delicate Monsters.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Stephanie Kuehn grew up in Berkeley, California, and attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she studied linguistics. In an interview with a contributor to the Read Is the New Black Website, Kuehn explained how her upbringing led her to become a writer: “My father was a journalist and editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, so I was around writers and books and passionate people who love words my entire childhood.” She is a writer of young adult fiction. In an interview with a writer on the Teenage Writeland Website, Kuehn explained why she writes books geared toward teenagers: “The characters in my head are all teenagers, so that makes it easy on me. However, on a deeper level, I really find meaning in writing stories that young people might connect with. I remember what it was like to feel disconnected in my adolescence.”
Kuehn published her first novel, Charm & Strange, in 2013. In the book, a teenager named Win discovers an alternate reality in which he is a vengeful boy named Andrew. In an interview with a contributor to the Rejectionist Website, Kuehn discussed the book’s unique format: “The way the story is structured is part of the reason I wanted to tell it in the first place. It’s a narrative structure that allowed me to weave themes of matter and antimatter, quarks, wolves, chemical bonds, chemical breakdowns, and Wittgenstein’s private language argument, into a short, dark story about the impact of trauma and the resilience of the human mind.” In her interview on the Read Is the New Black Website, Kuehn explained her intentions for Charm & Strange: “I never set out to write Charm & Strange as a mystery. I simply wanted readers to go on Win’s journey with him, and to experience the world the way that he does, because that is how I believe empathy is created.”
In Charm & Strange, Andrew Winston Winters is the troubled protagonist. The narrative switches back and forth between the present, where sixteen-year-old Win is attending a fancy boarding school in Vermont, and the past, where nine-year-old Drew (Win’s younger self) is dealing with a difficult childhood in Virginia. Win has been sent to the school because of a tragedy has occurred in his family. Bright and competitive, Win does well in school. However, he has no interest in interacting with his classmates, and he prefers to live in his own head. He has a deep-seated fear that he may hurt someone, and he dreads what may happen to him during a full moon. Win tries not to get close to anyone, although he inwardly longs for human connection. Win’s only friend and advocate is his roommate, Lex. One day, however, Win and Lex inexplicably stop talking. In one of his classes, Win learns about sea quarks, and he immediately identifies with them. The quarks contain both matter and antimatter, and Win believes he also contains both forces of creation and forces of destruction. When a partially eaten body of a local person is found in the woods near Win’s campus, he becomes preoccupied with what caused the murder. He wonders if it could have been the wolf-like beast that dwells within him. When the story flashes back to Win’s childhood self, Drew, it is revealed that he comes from a wealthy family. Drew is violent and cruel. He also suffers from motion sickness and stomach discomfort. His older brother, Keith, is kind to him and protective of him. Both Keith and Drew adore their younger sister, Siobhan. The siblings’ teenage cousins from Boston are also introduced during the flashbacks. The story reveals the terrible event that changed the family’s lives one summer. It also explains why Win has chosen not to go by his given name, Andrew. One night, when Win is at a party in the woods with his classmates from the boarding school, he is forced to face his past. He must decide how he will live before the sun comes up the following morning.
Charm & Strange received mostly favorable reviews from critics. A contributor to the Book Smuggler Web site remarked: “It is such a powerful and gut wrenching book that covers a difficult yet important subject.” The reviewer added: “The book’s own structure and narrative method … brilliantly mimics the character’s psychological dissociation and torment.” “Kuehn absolutely nails the voice and keeps us on constant edge,” wrote Daniel Kraus in Booklist. A Kirkus Reviews critic suggested: “A high-powered voice rich in charismatic style and emotional intensity illuminates this ambitious debut that doesn’t quite live up to its potential.” Evelyn Khoo Schwartz, writing in School Library Journal, commented on the twist at the ending of the book: “The shock of realization at the end, when everything clicks into place, is palpable.”
Complicit is narrated by teenage Jamie, who, along with his sister, Cate, was adopted by the Henrys. Cate sets a barn on fire and goes to jail. When she is released, Jamie begins having anxiety attacks and delves into his past to explain his complicated feelings about Cate. In an interview with a contributor to the Hub Web site, Kuehn stated: “When it comes to the relationships between characters, my approach is to layer on conflict and contradiction and more conflict, because that’s what feels real to me. It’s rare, for me, at least, to feel just one way about a person. I usually feel many ways about people. So in Complicit, Jamie loves his sister Cate and he’s scared of his sister Cate and he wants to protect Cate and he wants Cate to leave him the hell alone. These are all valid truths within him, and I tried to put them all on the page.”
“Complicit is a refreshing, different take on the YA norm,” asserted Meghan Watts on the RT Book Reviews Web site. William Polking, a contributor to the Nerdy Book Club Web site, remarked: “No adult should be embarrassed to read Complicit, but Kuehn’s latest is so good that adults and teens might be embarrassed not to.” “ Complicit ensnares readers from the first page with its surprising twists and revelations,” opined Shelley Sommer in School Library Journal.
Delicate Monsters finds Sadie Su returning to her hometown of Sonoma after nearly killing a fellow student at her boarding school. She connects with Emerson, whose father killed himself, and Emerson’s bullied brother, Miles. Sadie discovers that Emerson has a dark secret.
“Kuehn unflinchingly explores the darkest places of the human psyche,” commented Bircher in the Horn Book magazine. Booklist writer Jennifer Barnes described the volume as “intelligent, compulsively readable literary fiction with a dark twist.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly stated: “Kuehn … once again proves herself a talented writer in a tough, punishing novel.”
In The Smaller Evil, Arman Dukoff has stolen money from his drug-addicted stepfather in order to attend a retreat in Big Sur, California. The charismatic leader of the retreat is Beau, who guides attendees through strange rituals on the locked property. Beau singles out Arman as having potential. However, Beau suddenly disappears. The others at the retreat grow restless, and Arman may be in danger. Arman is at the retreat with his classmate, Kira, and her boyfriend, Dale, and they are the ones who must decide how to deal with Beau’s disappearance. Eventually, the trio begins to question their cult-like surroundings and whether or not they should, or can, escape.
Reviews of The Smaller Evil were somewhat mixed, though ultimately positive, and a Publishers Weekly correspondent announced: “Though certain characters are more archetypal than three-dimensional, the book’s philosophical undertones and uncertain ending are transfixing.” Etienne Vallee, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, was even more positive, and she asserted that “Kuehn creates a claustrophobic environment in which the main character is unreliable.” Vallee then went on to advise that “fans of mysteries and of tales with muddled conclusions will enjoy Arman’s journey towards self-discovery.”
The young adult thriller When I Am Through with You features seventeen-year-old Ben Gibson, a boy who is in jail for killing his girlfriend, Rose. Ben admits to these circumstances from the get-go, and the story proceeds in a series of flashbacks that ultimately lead to Rose’s death. As events unfold, Ben slowly reveals that he suffers from terrible migraines, and readers follow along as he struggles with his condition while on a backpacking trip with his classmates. Ben, Rosa, their classmates, and their teacher are all on the excursion. One of the teens on the trip has a gun, and the suspense builds as readers await Rose’s death. Yet, other dangerous factors enter into the story, including an encounter with less-than-well-intentioned strangers and a terrible storm.
Critics almost universally praised When I Am Through with You, but an online Pretty Deadly Reviews correspondent offered a rare negative assessment. According to the correspondent, “that I love Kuehn’s writing and her books are typically wild and bizarre. I do think there are others out there who will appreciate this more than I did, but in the end I felt it was a dull, jumbled mess of tragic backstories, bad decisions, and hiking.” On the other hand, Booklist columnist Krista Hutley called the book “a tense survival thriller,” and declared that “this chilling, twisty tale will leave readers grappling with its uncomfortable ending.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor was also impressed, asserting that “taut plotting combines with prose that’s by turns delicately plush and trenchantly foulmouthed for a riveting experience.” Furthermore, as a Publishers Weekly critic put it, the novel “explores the collision between desire and action in unpredictable physical and psychological landscapes.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, June 1, 2013, Daniel Kraus, review of Charm & Strange, p. 86; March 15, 2014, Daniel Kraus, review of Complicit, p. 72; May 1, 2015, Jennifer Barnes, review of Delicate Monsters, p. 49; June, 2017, Krista Hutley, review of When I Am Through with You.
Horn Book, July-August, 2014, Katie Bircher, review of Complicit, p. 96; fall, 2014, Katie Bircher, review of Complicit, p. 116; July-August, 2015, Katie Bircher, review of Delicate Monsters, p. 138.
Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2013, review of Charm & Strange; May 1, 2014, review of Complicit; April 1, 2015, review of Delicate Monsters; June 1, 2017, review of When I Am Through with You.
Publishers Weekly, March 31, 2014, review of Complicit, p. 67; April 13, 2015, review of Delicate Monsters, p. 83; December 2, 2015, review of Delicate Monsters, p. 112; May 23, 2016, review of The Smaller Evil; May 29, 2017, review of When I Am Through with You.
School Library Journal, October, 2013, Evelyn Khoo Schwartz, review of Charm & Strange, p. 126; May, 2014, Shelley Sommer, review of Complicit, p. 133; April, 2015, Tara Hixon, review of Delicate Monsters, p. 167.
Voice of Youth Advocate, August, 2016, Etienne Vallee, review of The Smaller Evil.
ONLINE
Book Smuggler, http://thebooksmugglers.com/ (August 13, 2013), review of Charm & Strange.
Chick Loves Lit, http://chickloveslit.com/ (June 16, 2013), author interview.
Fresh Fiction, http://freshfiction.com/ (November 21, 2013), author biography.
Hub, http://www.yalsa.ala.org/ (August 7, 2014), author interview.
Indianapolis Public Library, Teen Scene Web site, http://www.indypl.org/ (September 19, 2014), Michelle Frost, review of Complicit.
Kristina Perez, http://proust.kristinaperez.com/ (June 11, 2013), author interview.
Macmillan Website, http://us.macmillan.com/ (November 21, 2013), synopsis of Charm & Strange.
Nerdy Book Club, https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/ (July 23, 2014), William Polking, review of Complicit.
PEN America Website, http://www.pen.org/ (February 29, 2016), author interview.
Pretty Deadly Reviews, http://www.prettydeadlyblog.com/ (September 13, 2017), review of When I Am Through with You.
Read Is the New Black, http://readisthenewblack.blogspot.com/ (August 18, 2013), author interview.
Rejectionist, http://www.therejectionist.com/ (July 22, 2013), author interview.
RT Book Reviews, http://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (February 29, 2016), Meghan Watts, review of Complicit.
Stephanie Kuehn Website, http://stephaniekuehn.com (September 13, 2017).
Teenage Writeland, http://teenagewriteland.tumblr.com/ (November 21, 2013), author interview.*
SHORT BIO:skuehn_clr
Stephanie Kuehn is an author and a psychologist. Her debut young adult novel, CHARM & STRANGE, was the winner of the 2014 William C. Morris Award, and her second novel for teens, COMPLICIT, was named to YALSA’s 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults list. Stephanie was also awarded the 2015 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship for her forthcoming novel, THE SMALLER EVIL and her most recent book, DELICATE MONSTERS, won the 2016 Northern California Book Award. Stephanie lives in Northern California with her husband, their three children, and a joyful abundance of pets.
SOMEWHAT LONGER BIO:
I grew up in Berkeley, California, which is a quirky sort of a place with many wonderful bookstores. When I was fifteen, my very first job was working in one of those bookstores. It’s where I would go after school, and I’d read everything that I could. Back then, some of the books that had the greatest impact on my life were young adult novels, and now, as an adult, I’ve found my own passion in writing for teens.
Other passions of mine include mental health advocacy, social justice, and sports of all kinds. When I’m not writing or reading (or studying for graduate school), I’m usually outside running or playing with my family. I currently live in Northern California with my husband, three kids, and our menagerie of pets. Life is loud, joyous, and filled with animal hair.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my last name is pronounced keen. I know! I don’t get it either.
Thank you for stopping by!
Kuehn, Stephanie. When I Am Through with You
Sara Martin and Alicia Campbell
40.3 (Aug. 2017): p60.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
3Q * 3P * S
Kuehn, Stephanie. When I Am Through with You. Dutton/Penguin Random House, 2017. 304p. $17.99. 978-1-101-99473-3.
Hoping to escape his alcoholic mother and his crippling self-doubt, Ben Gibson joins his high school's orienteering club. The club decides to take a wilderness hiking trip in the nearby mountains. To his surprise, his longtime girlfriend, Rose, from whom he is feeling disconnected, decides to join the group. Once they start their trek, however, everything starts to unravel. What sets this story apart, and provides context for the harrowing adventure is the first-chapter reveal that Ben is writing this story from jail, where he is awaiting trial for killing Rose--an act for which he shows no remorse.
Much is made of Ben's debilitating migraines caused by a car accident from his childhood, and hints at manifestations of frontal lobe injuries appear throughout the text. As a result, the reader never knows whether or not to trust Ben's narration, which heightens the building tension as the reality of what happened up on the mountain is slowly revealed. When I Am Through with You reads like a summer teen-movie blockbuster, complete with worst-case scenarios, lost-in-the-woods terror, and "who can we believe" mind games. Although the novel has minor flaws (such as the uncomfortably familiar relationship between Ben and the teacher/supervisor which only acts as an unnecessary--or unintentional--red herring), teens looking for a wilderness-survival thriller with a solid psychological bent will enjoy this nerve-racking read. Frank depictions of sex and scenes of violence exist within the story.--Sara Martin.
Kuehn's When I Am Through with You combines a story of love and ultimate honesty with a challenging exploration of the darker side of compassion. Using vivid descriptions, Kuehn's novel follows Ben Gibson on a simple school hiking trip that becomes a remarkable portrayal of honesty, cruel kindness, desperation, survival, and an impossible solution. This title would fit well in any high school library collection. 3Q, 4P.--Alicia Campbell, Teen Reviewer.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Martin, Sara, and Alicia Campbell. "Kuehn, Stephanie. When I Am Through with You." Voice of Youth Advocates, Aug. 2017, p. 60. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA502000797&it=r&asid=3e69df40a8740674da9f4af40a22c1ab. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502000797
When I Am Through with You
Krista Hutley
113.19-20 (June 2017): p100.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
When I Am Through with You. By Stephanie Kuehn. Aug. 2017.304p. Dutton, $17.99 (9781101994733). Gr. 9-12.
Ever since his father left, high-school senior Ben has been making sacrifices--like saving his mother by killing his abusive stepfather, and giving up his future to take care of her after her car accident. It was different with his girlfriend Rose, though; she chose him, and he gave what he could to make her happy. When Ben and Rose join the orienteering club, their relationship is tested as a simple backpacking trip with six other students and a teacher turns into a nightmare of bad luck, terrible decisions, and disastrous consequences. Not everyone will make it back down the mountain, but of those who return, only Ben knows what happened to Rose. Ben, a sympathetic but increasingly mysterious narrator, tells the story from jail, an effective suspense-building tactic. Kuehn's (Delicate Monsters, 2015) solidly crafted novel is a complicated psychological study, which never breaks with Ben's perspective to further explain his motives, and a tense survival thriller involving sudden snowstorms and, less realistically, escaped convicts. This chilling, twisty tale will leave readers grappling with its uncomfortable ending. --Krista Hutley
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hutley, Krista. "When I Am Through with You." Booklist, June 2017, p. 100. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA498582843&it=r&asid=208ee4e31307a62b1eaaee144cbef1b2. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498582843
Kuehn, Stephanie: WHEN I AM THROUGH WITH YOU
(June 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Kuehn, Stephanie WHEN I AM THROUGH WITH YOU Dutton (Children's Fiction) $17.99 8, 1 ISBN: 978-1-10-199473-3
A multiethnic group of teenagers goes camping on a school trip, but not all of them make it home alive.Ben Gibson, a white teenager, is writing his story from jail. Straight off the bat, he throws readers a curveball with two pieces of crucial information: he loved brown-skinned Rose, his French-Peruvian girlfriend of two years, and he killed her. What follows next is a measured and uncensored narrative leading up to that exact moment. With a disabled mother to care for, Ben doesn't have much hope for the future. The only spot of color in his life is Rose, but lately, their connection has been rocky. When he is asked to help lead a camping trip to the mountains for his school's orienteering club, he embraces the challenge. With Rose and six other classmates in tow, the adventure begins--and quickly falls apart. Bad decisions, questionable motives, and possible fugitives hiding out in the mountain trap the teens in a train wreck readers can't look away from. Hindsight is 20/20 as Ben explores his actions, and the more he reveals, the harder it is to take sides. Taut plotting combines with prose that's by turns delicately plush and trenchantly foulmouthed for a riveting experience. Full of secrets and plot twists, Kuehn's latest is a satisfying, sophisticated study in complicated relationships. (Thriller. 14-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Kuehn, Stephanie: WHEN I AM THROUGH WITH YOU." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA493329154&it=r&asid=e5cb160c4085f9684463fdd0c1a61aac. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A493329154
When I Am Through with You
264.22 (May 29, 2017): p70.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
When I Am Through with You
Stephanie Kuehn. Dutton, $17.99 (304) ISBN 978-1-101-99473-3
Early on in this relentlessly tense thriller, 17-year-old narrator Ben Gibson reveals that he killed his girlfriend, Rose, and is currently in jail. These revelations do nothing to lessen the suspense of the story that unfolds, which--like Kuehn's (The Smaller Evil) previous books--delves into the psyches of conflicted and traumatized teens. Ben is less forthcoming about other information, such as the source of his debilitating migraine headaches, which slowly comes to the surface during an orienteering trip with several classmates, including Rosa, and a teacher on a nearby California mountain. The expedition does not go well, and personality clashes and questionable decisions give way to an encounter with a potentially dangerous group of strangers and a freak storm. And one of the teens has a gun. It's a harrowing story that succeeds in keeping readers off-balance from start to finish as it explores the collision between desire and action in unpredictable physical and psychological landscapes. Ideal for fans of literary thrillers like Paul Griffin's Adrift or Justine Larbalestier's My Sister Rosa. Ages 14-up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"When I Am Through with You." Publishers Weekly, 29 May 2017, p. 70. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA494500805&it=r&asid=37d2ea477014ce2d23576c8889764f53. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A494500805
Kuehn, Stephanie. The Smaller Evil
Etienne Vallee
39.3 (Aug. 2016): p63.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
3Q * 3P * S
Kuehn, Stephanie. The Smaller Evil. Dutton/Penguin Random House, 2016. 256p. $17.99. 978-1-101-99470-2.
Arman Dukoff has no faith in himself. At seventeen, he takes medications for his mood and mind. He has several physical issues, such as picking at his arms until they bleed. Arman's father is a con man and addict who has spent time in prison. His mother married his stepfather, a meth dealer, so she would not be alone. Arman, though, is all alone, and he knows he cannot even rely on himself. Offered the chance to attend an exclusive self-help retreat near Big Sur, Arman escapes his present circumstances with a few thousand dollars stolen from his stepfather. Beau, who guides Arman to the retreat, is a smooth talker whom Arman does not want to disappoint. Beau reveals something to Arman: he believes in him. Everything goes wrong, however. Suddenly Beau vanishes. Was he murdered or did he commit suicide? The only witness, Arman cannot remember anything. Now, he is under a cloud of suspicion at the compound, and the situation is becoming dangerous. Isolated from the rest of the world, there is only one person who can help Arman: himself. That is the scariest commitment he can make.
Kuehn creates a claustrophobic environment in which the main character is unreliable. Estranged from his own life, Arman holds a negative view of the world which bleeds into every interaction he has with others. Well fleshed-out but unlikable, his actions leave the reader's head shaking in disbelief. Descriptive sex scenes and an abundance of drug use make this book appropriate for older teens. Fans of mysteries and of tales with muddled conclusions will enjoy Arman's journey towards self-discovery. --Etienne Vallee.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Vallee, Etienne. "Kuehn, Stephanie. The Smaller Evil." Voice of Youth Advocates, Aug. 2016, p. 63. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA461445142&it=r&asid=427cd6422727ca30b9dced9ef01b13a5. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A461445142
The Smaller Evil
Katie Bircher
92.4 (July-August 2016): p137.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
The Smaller Evil
by Stephanie Kuehn
High School Dutton 248 pp.
8/16 978-1-101-99470-2 $17.99 g
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Seventeen-year-old Arman is anxious, self-loathing, mostly ignored by his mother and stepfather, and ashamed of his incarcerated father. He makes an easy mark for Beau, the charismatic founder of a remote "retreat" called Evolve, whose mission is to inoculate participants against "social order disease." Although Beau takes a particular interest in Arman (because, it's later revealed, Beau is seeking a successor), Arman can't shake the bad feeling he has about Evolve and sneaks away from the compound. Beau catches up with him, but then things take a surreal, suspenseful turn. Manipulated psychologically and sexually, drugged without his knowledge, trying to comprehend a situation that appears to involve conspiracy, murder, and even the paranormal, Arman can't trust anyone--or even his own mind. Interspersed with events at the compound are disturbing second-person, present-tense vignettes that relate the recruitment of a young woman. Kuehn's novels (Charm & Strange, rev. 11/13; Complied, rev. 7/14; Delicate Monsters, rev. 7/15) frequently explore the unreliability of perception and memory, as well as the human mind's ability to protect itself from harmful information and situations, and this book is no exception. The reader experiences Arman's profound disorientation and panic along with him, even as details provided by his experiences and in the vignettes call his judgment into serious question. Foreboding builds inexorably to a conclusion that feels both tragic and inevitable.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Bircher, Katie. "The Smaller Evil." The Horn Book Magazine, July-Aug. 2016, p. 137+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA457975637&it=r&asid=9445379f049591d13398b2f125ee949d. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A457975637
The Smaller Evil
263.21 (May 23, 2016): p70.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
The Smaller Evil
Stephanie Kuehn. Dutton, $17.99 (256p) ISBN 978-1-101-99470-2
With his drug-addicted father in and out of jail and his neglectful mother wishing him out of the house, 17-year-old Arman seeks solace and guidance in Beau, a charismatic adult who promises a way to free Arman from his feelings of inadequacy. Arman joins Kira, a fellow classmate, and Dale, her boyfriend, on a retreat with Beau. Instead of the campsite expected, the three find themselves on the Evolve compound, a center of more than 100 devotees committed to uncovering their truest selves through exercises that challenge their abilities and memories. When the compound's leader disappears and factions within the camp turn ugly, Arman, Kira, and Dale must decide whether they are being manipulated and how to escape. Balancing Arman's experience with Beau's inner thoughts, Kuehn (Delicate Monsters) elevates the religious cult novel with this sophisticated psychological mystery centered on the concept of the double effect--that the "greater good outweighs the smaller evil." Though certain characters are more archetypal than three-dimensional, the book's philosophical undertones and uncertain ending are transfixing. Ages 14-up. Agent: Michael Bonnet, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Smaller Evil." Publishers Weekly, 23 May 2016, p. 70+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA453722560&it=r&asid=6b587d73bf4e615bf4b508efb1937f28. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A453722560
Kuehn, Stephanie: THE SMALLER EVIL
(May 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Kuehn, Stephanie THE SMALLER EVIL Dutton (Children's Fiction) $17.99 8, 2 ISBN: 978-1-101-99470-2
Strange occurrences at a secluded self-help retreat threaten 17-year-old Arman's already fragile mental healthFor as long as he can remember, Arman has taken medications for numerous chronic physical and emotional ailments. So when Beau, a reassuring but mysterious man, invites Arman to a healing retreat in the hills of Big Sur, he accepts. He's nervous but eager for a chance to move beyond his sense of brokenness. At the retreat compound, Arman is among strangers, except for his classmate Kira, a black girl who is the daughter of a famous civil rights attorney, and her boyfriend, Dale. Like Arman and most of the other characters, Dale is white. Arman is at once comforted and confused by Beau's interest in him and by his encounters with a beautiful girl, a cook at the compound. But talk of "inoculation" and "quarantine" and the program's other odd rituals unnerve Arman, as effectively conveyed in Kuehn's third-person narration. When Beau disappears, Arman is the only witness to what may have been a murder or a suicide--he's not sure which, because he can't remember exactly what happened. Arman's tale of self-discovery is woven into the bigger mystery of Beau's fate, but the result of the latter is less than enthralling. More gripping is the insightful and empathetic look into the mind of a teen struggling to heal.Rich prose and a complex main character salvage this suspenseful but less-than-satisfying mystery. (Thriller. 14-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Kuehn, Stephanie: THE SMALLER EVIL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA452197852&it=r&asid=7c1e6ccca7f03bb6e3a796484adc969e. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A452197852
The Smaller Evil
Sarah Hunter
112.17 (May 1, 2016): p48.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
The Smaller Evil. By Stephanie Kuehn. Aug. 2016. 256p. Dutton, $17.99 (9781101994702). Gr. 9-12.
Arman quickly agreed to spend a week at Beau's campground in the California mountains, a place he believed would help him solve his myriad--and acutely real--problems. But while the charismatic man's homily of "social order sickness" and "cultural syndromes" initially made sense, in the confines of the compound, surrounded by Beau's followers and their intense, vaguely mystical rhetoric, Armans not as convinced. After a difficult night of confrontational therapy, he's had enough and decides to split. On his walk home, though, he discovers Beau's bloodied body and quickly returns to the compound for help. Only, once he gets everyone's attention, Beau's body and the van it was in are nowhere to be seen, and Arman is missing a few hours of memory. Kuehn effectively builds a confounding, cult-like atmosphere in the compound and a convincing conspiracy swirling around Arman's experiences. While the ultimate pay-off leaves quite a few questions frustratingly unanswered, the eerie atmosphere of the compound, Kuehn's skillful hand at characterization, and the twisty scheme should nonetheless hook readers.--Sarah Hunter
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hunter, Sarah. "The Smaller Evil." Booklist, 1 May 2016, p. 48. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA453293721&it=r&asid=dc07a85b8505e42fc1d0293e2318a526. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A453293721
Kuehn, Stephanie. When I Am Through with You
Bridgid Mclntyre
63.7 (July 2017): p90.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
KUEHN, Stephanie. When I Am Through with You. 304p. Dutton. Aug. 2017. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781101994733.
Gr 10 Up--The nightmarish story of a school camping trip gone wrong is told in slow, dread-soaked detail by Ben Gibson, a high school senior who is incarcerated for the murder of his girlfriend, Rose--one of a handful of people who didn't survive the trip. Eight students and their faculty advisor head into the California mountains for a three-day orientation trip, each with emotional baggage, secrets, and motives. They cross paths with a band of squirrelly adults who seem to be protecting a secret of their own, and things go downhill fast. Ben's history of trauma and his continuing abuse and their toll on his psyche are revealed layer by layer as the campers' situation becomes increasingly desperate. These teens are hyperaware of one another's pain and emotional needs, and the dialogue is sophisticated and a bit implausible. But the complicated actions they, especially the girls, take in the name of trying to push and save one another feel honest. Kuehn's trademark direct and taut prose and her unflinching examination of the aftermath of trauma keep the pages turning toward an ending that's muted and explosive, just like Ben. VERDICT A tense survival story and a grim exploration of pain, guilt, and choice. Purchase where the author's thrillers are popular.--Bridgid Mclntyre, Madison Public Library, WI
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Mclntyre, Bridgid. "Kuehn, Stephanie. When I Am Through with You." School Library Journal, July 2017, p. 90. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA497611170&it=r&asid=9216f08d8d560c04e5fec2b8935b0601. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A497611170
Kuehn, Stephanie. The Smaller Evil
Jessica Moody
62.11 (Nov. 2016): p57.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
KUEHN, Stephanie. The Smaller Evil. 6 CDs. 7:23 hrs. Listening Library. Aug. 2016. $40. ISBN 97804514855995. digital download.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Gr 9 Up--Seventeen-year-old Arman Dukoff is shy around girls and awkward and longs to get away from his drug-dealing stepfather. With $2,000 in hand, he runs away from home to join self-help guru Beau at a retreat near Big Sur. When Arman arrives at the camp, things aren't what he expected, but he does start to click with a girl. Confusion ensues with strange rules, rituals, and jargon. Then Beau goes missing. Narrator Ryan Gessell pulls listeners into Arman's world. The plot is a bit slow to take off, but listeners will be on the edge of their seats as the book progresses. VERDICT An intriguing psychological thriller. Listeners who like suspenseful titles such as Anna Collomore's Ruining will enjoy this audiobook. ["Kuehn's specialty in depicting mental illness and her sharp, quick writing are on display in her latest novel, but it is her satirical integration of New Age hippie rituals with the pseudoscientific jargon of the self-help retreat world that is the most compelling addition": SL] 6/16 starred review of the Dutton book.]--Jessica Moody, Olympus Jr. High, Holladay, UT
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Moody, Jessica. "Kuehn, Stephanie. The Smaller Evil." School Library Journal, Nov. 2016, p. 57. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA468699111&it=r&asid=3c0ba9dd874bf604d9478c194f3658fc. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468699111
Book Review: When I Am Through With You by Stephanie Kuehn
POSTED JULY 17, 2017 BY BEKKA IN BOOK REVIEW / 1 COMMENT
Book Review: When I Am Through With You by Stephanie KuehnWhen I Am Through With You by Stephanie Kuehn
Published by Dutton Books for Young Readers on August 1st, 2017
Genres: contemporary
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
“This isn’t meant to be a confession. Not in any spiritual sense of the word. Yes, I’m in jail at the moment. I imagine I’ll be here for a long time, considering. But I’m not writing this down for absolution and I’m not seeking forgiveness, not even from myself. Because I’m not sorry for what I did to Rose. I’m just not. Not for any of it.”
Ben Gibson is many things, but he’s not sorry and he’s not a liar. He will tell you exactly about what happened on what started as a simple school camping trip in the mountains. About who lived and who died. About who killed and who had the best of intentions. But he’s going to tell you in his own time. Because after what happened on that mountain, time is the one thing he has plenty of.
This will likely be a quick review because I was very disappointed with this book and I’d like to just move past it. Stephanie Kuehn is an auto-buy author for me and so I was obviously extremely excited to get this in my hands as fast as possible and devour it just as quickly. But I feel that the bar was set pretty high with Complicit a couple years ago and it’s just not easy to meet those same standards. I waited and waited for When I Am Through With You to get better, gripping, thrilling and it simply never did.
That’s not to say there wasn’t anything redeemable in here. What I liked the most about this book was the bad decisions almost every character made. I know that sounds weird, but in the YA world right now there are too many people harshly criticizing teenagers for acting rashly, without forethought, with their hormones, and it’s like no one remembers what it was like to actually be a teenager. But Stephanie Kuehn does. She perfectly grasped the feeling of knowing you are currently, right now, doing the Wrong Thing, but continuing to do it anyway. She made realistic the act of doing something and not really knowing why, without being frustrating to this adult reader.
I also really liked reading from Ben’s perspective. Ben has a pretty dark history; his father walked out on his family, he killed his stepfather, and he’s found himself in a never-ending cycle of guilt surrounding his mother’s poor mental and physical health. He is regularly mistreated by the people who are supposed to love him and he’s internalized it. But what is so brilliant about Ben’s characterization is that he thinks he knows he’s internalized these feelings. He thinks he knows when he’s being manipulated and he believes he’s okay with it. In reality though, he’s being misused and abused in so many other ways but he doesn’t even notice! This makes Ben’s version of events much more intriguing and much more unreliable.
However, the events in question were absolutely boring. There’s no other way to describe this book. Now, admittedly, I am not a huge fan of survival stories. It’s not a subgenre I reach for. I didn’t know this was going to be that kind of book when I picked it up, but I still would have read it anyway because Stephanie Kuehn. This book is violent and dark and kind of incredible – in the way that there’s no credibility to the histories of the characters or their actions on the mountain. Despite Kuehn’s beautiful writing, I just couldn’t feel compelled to give a crap about any of it. I didn’t care about the orienteering club, I didn’t care about Ben’s relationship with Rose, or her manic-pixie-dreaminess. I didn’t at all care about Ben’s out-of-school interactions with Mr. Howe and his wife. While I liked Ben okay and thought he was a fascinating character, his life was just boring. I can’t help but believe this book would have been much more interesting from any other character’s point of view, especially those in the thick of it all like Avery or Tomas.
A lot of people die. There’s an explosion, a massacre, a miscommunication, a misidentification. Somehow, though, there was never a point at which I couldn’t put the book down and walk away from it. What’s worse is that by the end, the whole thing felt pointless. I thought Ben’s reason for killing Rose came on way too quickly – for someone who supposedly never makes a decision for himself, it doesn’t take too much prodding for him to decide to end Rose’s life. He’s had the wool pulled down over his eyes for so long and then a few hours later just makes a decision based on the tiniest trickle of information? And for someone who is plagued by guilt just for looking at someone the wrong way, how could he feel no remorse for what he did? The whole climax was anticlimactic and there should have been much more time spent getting to the why and internal how of Rose’s murder, since that’s the hook that had us all reading from the beginning. This wasn’t a story at all of how he came to kill Rose. This was a story of Ben realizing that he’d been making shitty decisions the whole time, even if he wanted to pretend nothing was his fault.
Okay, so maybe this wasn’t that quick but I had to take the time to explain how I felt. Bored, mostly. Fascinated by how a character can deceive himself. And frustrated by the rushed ending and the very pointless passages involving Mr. Howe’s wife at the end. All of this is made even more sad by the fact that I love Kuehn’s writing and her books are typically wild and bizarre. I do think there are others out there who will appreciate this more than I did, but in the end I felt it was a dull, jumbled mess of tragic backstories, bad decisions, and hiking.