Before, After, and Somebody In Between [Hardcover]

Jeannine Garsee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2007

My sympathy fades as Chardonnay twists around to spread her lips in a demented grin. Her long yellow teeth probably haven't seen a toothbrush in months. I take a chance and smile back, and what do I get? A pudgy middle finger jabbed under my nose.
My next thought is: Wow. I may not even survive homeroom.
 
One hour into her first day of tenth grade, Martha Kowalski knows she's really in trouble. The school bully, Chardonnay, has already threatened her life--and at home, things are even worse. Martha's mom, fresh out of rehab, is shacking up with an obnoxious jerk in a neighborhood that can only be described as a "ghetto."
More than anything she's ever wanted, Martha wants to play the cello. But even music becomes dangerous to her health--because nothing is what it seems in this place. With  her mother's willpower dissolving,  Martha watches helplessly as her own dreams slip further away.
But in an exhilarating twist that would stun even Cinderella, everything changes. A wealthy lawyer invites her into his family's home and Martha is given a chance to start over. The warm, caring Brinkmans treat Martha like one of the family and even though it feels so right, she knows they can't be as perfect as they seem. And she knows that this fairy tale can't last forever…
 
An unforgettable debut, Before, After and Somebody in Between is smart, poignant, and very real.

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

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens; First Edition edition (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159990022X
• ISBN-13: 978-1599900223
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,076,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeannine Garsee's third novel for teens, THE UNQUIET--a paranormal--will be released by Bloomsbury USA Children's Books in 2012. She is also the author of SAY THE WORD and BEFORE, AFTER, AND SOMEBODY IN BETWEEN, also from Bloomsbury. 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 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 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Before, After, and Somebody In Between (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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Before, After, and Somebody In Between (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 before,after,and Somebody in between, July 21, 2007

By 

June P. Baker "The Writer" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Before, After, and Somebody In Between (Hardcover)

before, after,and Somebody in between is a gritty novel about
growing up in an impossible situation and coming out a Winner. Fourteen year old Martha Kowalski dreams of one day being a Celloist Only one thing would stop her and Alcoholic mother who thinks its nonsense.

Martha is the only white girl in a ghetto school. And . . . not entirely acepted by all her classmates. Especially Chardonnay. Chardonny pulls her into a confrontation and Martha gets caught with a knife. She ends up in jail.

Every cloud has a silver lining and for Martha her sliver lining was Richard and Claudia Brinkman.