Before, After, and Somebody In Between [Kindle Edition]

Jeannine Garsee (Author)

Book Description

Martha Kowalski is a quick-witted girl stuck in a bad situation. She's just moved to the slums of Cleveland with an alcoholic mother and Momma's new gun-loving, redneck boyfriend. Yes, there are pockets of goodness in her new life--a friend at school, a boy who lives upstairs, and cello lessons--but every day is filled with abuse from the unrelenting life of the ghetto. One day, Martha finds herself out on the street, and that's when her luck changes. A wealthy family invites her to live with them and within days she is enrolled in private school, is outfitted in the perfect new wardrobe, and is falling for the cutest guy she's ever seen! But life isn't so simple, and soon Martha realizes that she's not the only one with a past.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Fans of Mary Pearson's A Room on Lorelei Street (2005) will be a good target for Garsee's look at another troubled teen trying to escape her horrible circumstances. Although Martha is a smart student and a talented musician, she has few opportunities. A deceased father, an alcoholic mother with disreputable boyfriends, a dangerous neighborhood, extreme poverty, and an interracial friendship set the scene. After the tragedy of a drive-by shooting, some poor choices by her mother, and a bad foster-home experience, Martha finds a new home and new life with a wealthy, sympathetic lawyer. Along the way, Martha makes plenty of bad choices (including having sex in a van with someone she doesn't know), but she also has lots of saviors. Coincidences and contrivances abound here, but teens will inevitably find Martha a compelling character and will root for her as she adapts to new challenges—and a new name to fit her new environment. Readers are left with hope that Martha will always find her way. Dobrez, Cindy

Review

From Kirkus Reviews

This gritty story has great appeal. --Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 481 KB
• Print Length: 368 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens; Reprint edition (October 1, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005PWMFXI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,944 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Between a Rock and a Hard Place June 26, 2007

By Little Willow

Format:Hardcover

Fourteen-year-old Martha is dragged along to a new town by her mother and Wayne, her mother's newest loser boyfriend. Over the next few months, her life will become worse than she ever dreamed it could be - and then better - and then a bit of both.

Having skipped a grade, Martha is smarter and younger than her classmates. She is also Caucasian, while the majority of the school and the neighborhood is African-American. Though she makes two friends early on, they can't stop the threats made on her life by very imposing female bully.

When a drive-by in her neighborhood turns her world upside down - or perhaps right-side-up - she is taken in by a well-meaning and well-off family, given a makeover, and accepted into a prestigious school. At the recommendation of her new family's beautiful daughter, she starts going by Gina, a variation on her middle name. As she makes new friends and starts dating an intriguing boy, she tries to put the past behind her, but it's never far behind. When her lies catch up with her, Gina's new life is shattered, and she is forced to become Martha again.

Whether things are good, bad, or in between, she escapes by playing the cello. Ultimately, it is her music that will build her spirit, even when it seems the world is conspiring to break it.

Martha is a complicated protagonist. At first, she is somewhat quiet. Thus, the novel greatly benefits from the first-person narrative, letting readers hear the thoughts and things Martha wishes she had the guts to say and do.

Jeannine Garsee's debut novel, BEFORE, AFTER, AND SOMEBODY IN BETWEEN, addresses abuse in various forms - alcohol, pills, verbal, physical - as well as recovery and redemption. Though no one is ever fully healed nor redeemed, that makes it all the more realistic. Martha has potential, and so does Garsee.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too June 25, 2007

By TeensReadToo

Format:Hardcover

When Martha's mom gets out of rehab and drags Martha to live with her latest boyfriend it's nothing new. Ever since her father's death, Martha's life has been a string of moving from place to place, constantly watching out for her mom. But this time the new boyfriend lives in a part of town where 'white girls don't belong,' as her classmates at school have no problem telling her. Martha is plunged into a world of gang violence and drugs, metal detectors at school, threats from other students, and violence at home. But she still manages to make a few friends at school and with the family that lives upstairs. And when she signs up for orchestra and discovers the joy of playing the cello, she thinks things might have finally turned around.

Until an act of violence sends everything spiraling out of control.

BEFORE, AFTER, AND SOMEBODY IN BETWEEN is a gritty and realistic tale of a girl trying to escape her parent's poor choices and make a life for herself. Told unflinchingly in the first person, Garsee doesn't hesitate from portraying teen violence, sex, and drug and alcohol use as the traps that they can be, but she does so with gentle humor and a compassionate eye. Martha is a flawed heroine, coming to terms with her own faults and the addictive tendencies she may have inherited from her mother, but readers will root for her to succeed. This book is not a light-hearted tale, and at times the string of bad events can feel unrelenting, but Garsee shows the bright spots to be found in even the deepest tragedies.

Recommended for older readers only. Contains drug and alcohol use, sex, and profanity.

Reviewed by: Dena Landon

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for YA only!! August 7, 2007

By Kate

Format:Hardcover

This book will resonate with anyone, young or old, who has ever dreamed of growing beyond a difficult childhood into one's passions and gifts. Garsee captures exquisitely the ambivalence of the parentified child-- loving a deeply flawed parent and hating the parent in equal measure for continually disappointing, worrying for the parent's safety while resenting that there is no one to keep the child safe, in Martha's case from being bullied, from unintended tragedy, from the rollercoaster highs and lows of adolescent life. Beautifully written, with indelible characters and a page-turning plot that grips the reader from start to finish, Before, After, and Somebody in Between, ends in hope while never lapsing into 'happily ever after'. I am a grandmother and I could not put this book down!!

More About the Author

Jeannine Garsee's third novel for teens, THE UNQUIET--a paranormal--will be released by Bloomsbury USA Children's Books on July 17, 2012. She is also the author of SAY THE WORD and BEFORE, AFTER, AND SOMEBODY IN BETWEEN. Her essay "Fearless," a personal account of a middle school bullying experience, appears in DEAR BULLY: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (Harper Collins 2011)

Jeannine works as a psychiatric nurse in Cleveland, Ohio.