Customer Reviews

The Unresolved

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Mallory Meer turns fifteen the week before she boards a steamship in 1904 on what will be her last voyage before the steamship burns and kills her and a thousand others. Yet she lingers, a ghost, unable to leave her love or family until the fire's setters are brought to justice. Turn-of-the-century Manhattan comes to life in a wonderfully different kind of ghost story.

There's a whole genre of young adult books that would have me running to find the nearest Graham Greene. The Unresolved is one of the rare young adult novels that can entertain adults who were alive when Carter was President.

Welsh takes an oft overlooked chapter of New York history and breathes life into it by making his main character otherworldly. The sense of unrest and unease is uniquely potrayed as not just the province of those souls in limbo, but also of the very real flesh and blood cast that are living in early twentieth century New York. The intrigue, jealousies and destructive behavior are taut enough to satisfy any modern millie,(imagine early twentieth century Desperate Housewives angst)while keeping the veracity of the historical perspective.

T K Welsh proves that you don't have to be a wizard to write a book that both parents and children will read and enjoy. I look forward to his future endeavors.

Mallory Meer, 13-year old Lutheran German immigrant, dies on the deck of the General Slocum, a steamship, as she sails up the East River during a church outing, in New York, 1904. We learn this in the first paragraph of The Unresolved, a mesmerizing, often brilliant new historical YA novel by T.K. Welsh. Of the 1,200 or so who set sail that fateful summer morning, over a thousand perished: drowned or burned to death aboard the blazing General Slocum. Mallory keeps a rendezvous with a beautiful young teenage boy named Dustin Brauer, a poor kid, and Jewish, with whom she shares her first kiss ... and it is he who is blamed for the disaster by the grieving citizenry of Kleindeutchland, on Manhattan's lower east side, as they struggle to cope with the loss of their loved ones.
Caught in that netherspace between this world and the next, there is no place where Mallory belongs. She cannot remain, now that she dangles upside down from those shipboards, and quite dead, burned black and in pieces - all now that remains of the General Slocum. Nor can she finally move on - though she'd like to - to that other space, until those responsible for the tragedy are exposed, judged and punished, the dead finally avenged, and her hunger to linger with Dustin dissolves.
There is a public trial. None of the ship's safety measures lived up to their promise. Life vests disintegrated as they soaked up sea water, dragging the desperate who wore them down to a watery grave. Fire hoses burst like overstuffed sausages. The lifeboats were lashed to the deck, contemptuously rigid, uncompromising. The crew was both cowardly and untrained. Those responsible were indicted and ultimately paraded before a public inquest by the city coroner, cross-examined and often found guilty. In the end, however, it was only the captain who fell, the tastiest of lambs, already cooked by the fire.
And there is a private trial, as Dustin - the sad, handsome boy Mallory loves - is reviled as the cause of the tragedy, and the rest of his family are disgraced and debased by the anti-Semitic community.
The Unresolved is a story of a love that's so great the rupture of death cannot break it. It's a story of a girl's spirit, unresolved yet resilient, betwixt this and what follows; neither child nor adult; neither lover nor friend. It's a story of the ultimate outsider.
What a startling, evocative and promising debut! The Unresolved, T.K. Welsh's first novel for young adults, is at turns mesmerizing, breathtaking, informative, entertaining, heart-breaking and redemptive. Clearly constructed upon a platform of exhaustive research, you will soar upon its language, while feeling yourself drawn downward, downward, into the dark whirlpool of this beautiful new novel. Set in the 1904 German immigrant community of Kleindeutchland, on Manhattan's lower east side, Mallory Meer's dark, curious world is yours for the page-turning. A must for any teenage girl, aged 13+, who likes historical fiction, who feels uncertain of her place in the world, and who has ever been in love.

Before the tragic events of 9/11, the greatest disaster in New York history was the fire aboard the General Slocum steamship in 1904, killing more than a thousand people on a church outing. Welsh's fictionalized account is narrated by the ghost of one of the victims, fifteen-year-old Mallory Meer. Her boyfriend Dustin Brauer, the Jewish son of a beer brewer, is accused of starting the fire, and he and his father are persecuted by the Lutheran German community of Kleindeutschland. Mallory's spirit and soul will not rest until justice is achieved. As the story of Dustin's alleged involvement in the fire spreads, the anti-Semitic and bigoted views of his neighbors are exposed. A unique and spooky departure from the typical historical novel, The Unresolved, while disturbing and haunting, is also compelling and captivating.

Kiss Me, I'm Dead will delight students of history and lovers of mystery. Writing in the voice of Mallory Meer, a ghost, J.G. Sandom has crafted a captivating tale of intrigue, romance, and redemption. Set against the backdrop of early 20th century Little Germany in NYC, Sandom paints a detailed portrait of life in the bustling German immigrant culture of the Lower East Side, and the ensuing conflict that occurred after a terrible disaster.
On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum set sail from New York for a Sunday picnic in Locust Grove. Packed with over 1,300 Germans, the boat caught fire and quickly sank. Mallory Meer, an adolescent infatuated with her first love, drowned in the accident. Kiss Me, I'm Dead is Mallory's story. In death, her search for love is transformed into a quest for truth. An unseen observer to the grief and desire for vengeance in her community, she roams her former home and neighborhood, witness to all. As her story unfolds, the reader is transported to the lower east side in 1904. History students will be thrilled at the insight into life in Kleindeutschland, rich in detail of the German immigrants, and rife with social and religious tensions within this community and between it and the politics and press of NYC. The causes of the shipwreck and the following investigation will resonate with today's readers. Fans of mystery and intrigue will be carried along as the thirst for blame and retribution unjustly target Mallory's first love, Dustin and his family.
Fans of J.G. Sandom will be thrilled that he has written a thoughtful and thought-provoking novel for young adults. The cast of characters in Kiss Me I'm Dead is varied and fully developed. Readers will root for the heroes, boo the villains, and gain insight to the motivations of all. This novel would make an excellent book club selection for young adult and adult readers. In addition to the historical aspects of the novel, character development and writer's craft would both be rich seeds for discussion.

The Unresolved is a deceptively slim book about an actual historical tragedy. In 1904 fire on the steamboat General Slocum killed more than 1000 people, mostly woman and children, mostly German immigrants, on New York's East River. Many people suffered, and many people were to blame.

In this novel by T. K. Welsh, the spirit of one of the dead, Mallory Meer, is unable to rest until she uncovers the reasons for the disaster. Mallory, as a spirit, isn't very strongly anchored in time, and her thoughts and experiences drift backwards and forwards in a somewhat stream-of-consciousness manner. For example (from page 2):

"My name is Mallory Meer. I'd turned fifteen the week before, and in an hour -- thanks to the only boy I've ever loved -- I would be dead.

I float around the white memorial in Middle Village, Queens, among the other insubstantial figures. We are the unidentified remembered -- the unknown, unforgotten victims of the General Slocum who continue, unresolved, like Tantalus, to grasp at something slightly out of reach."

Mallory travels through time and space, haunting the survivors and those culpable in the disaster, though most don't know that she's there. She learns things about their backgrounds, and their actions, and gradually pieces together the chain of events that led to so many unnecessary deaths. But it's a difficult non-life for Mallory, visiting with person after person, reliving traumatic events over and over again, and trying to communicate with the living.

This book is a haunting chronicle of the ways things can go wrong, one decision at a time, and the way people hide from the truth, and lie to protect themselves. There are also interesting tidbits about immigrant life in New York, and the way that breweries work. Although the writing style takes getting used to, I found the story riveting, and read it in a single sitting. I recommend it for fans of historical fiction, especially mysteries, and fans of ghost stories.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on February 3, 2007.

JG Sandom's "Kiss Me, I'm Dead" has a 'real-life' feel to it, allowing the reader to delve into the early 20th Century and watch the events unfold. A tale of love and happiness, death, jealousy and hatred, it is hard not to relate to the characters. Told from the point of view of Mallory Meer, the reader is able to experience each characters emotions and fears as they find a way to cope with their losses. A truly entertaining story. Sandom did a great job once again. A great, quick read.

I purchased this book as a supplement to a classroom play that I do every year on the General Slocum disaster of 1904. Most people don't realize that this was the worst disaster to hit NY until 9/11 but few if any have heard about it. Rather than weigh the reader down with technical details, it gives a heart-wrenching account from the main character's pov (who is dead) of the senseless acts that went on before and right after the burning of the ship. Although not completely accurate, it may get some kids reading more about this forgotten travesty. As a complement book, read, Ship Ablaze, which is a non-fiction account and also extremely good.

This is an extraordinary ghost story that combines historical facts in an imaginative tale of love and loss. The story takes place amidst one of New York City's most tragic moments, resulting in the death of many including a thirteen year old girl. The love for her boyfriend and the desire for revenge keep her unrest spirit very much alive. The book is captivating and a perfect read for teenagers. It is a story that stays with you well after the turn of the last page. I highly recommended it.

How can I get this book intergrated into schools? This book did a brilliant job of making the reader understand what the world was really like during that time. You read about prejudice and inequality in history books but you rarely get such a good understanding of how it impacted society. Even though this book was written for a younger audience, I feel like anyone could read it and be thoroughly entertained. I'm not one for romance or ghost stories, but this was different. It had a feeling of a whodunit meets The Sixth Sense (minus the bad M. Night twist). It was very entertaining and a big eye-opener. It makes you think about how much we as a society impact one another. I hope this makes it into the Classics of English literature sometime soon.