Six Feet Over It has a really beautiful starred review from Kirkus! What an amazing honor, what a joy to know that all the reasons I wanted to tell this story have somehow translated to so many readers. And yes, reviews are just one person's thoughts and are not the be-all-end-all of life or books whether good, bad or indifferent. But the thing is this: If even one person feels a little less lonely, or happier, or just falls away into a story for a few hours - that is the best thing in the world, the greatest and entire reward for a storyteller or illustrator, for an agent and editor who create the story with the writers and artists. That is magic. People, is there anything better than a great book to get lost in? Certainly not! And the kindness of readers who have shared how they've been happily lost in Six Feet Over It make me so grateful and thrilled as a writer - and as a reader - that I could totally cry. Which I generally tend to do a lot anyway, but which I am especially doing a ton these days as August 26th comes nearer. So. Excited. Thank you all so much, Dear Readers, and thank you Dear Writers who write the amazing books I cannot stop reading. Even when I should be writing. Which is now. So I'll get back to it. But here's the unbelievably wonderful Kirkus (Starred! What the hell? Seriously?!) review for you to read. Which I read a few times a day while clutching a wad of Kleenex because it makes me weepy because I am so grateful and So Happy!
KIRKUS REVIEW
A teenage girl must choose to live in a world filled with death.
Fourteen-year-old Leigh is anything but thrilled when her parents move the family from their coastal home in Mendocino to run a “memorial park” (aka graveyard) in the boring inland California community of Hangtown. While her older sister, Kai, relaxes into small-town living, finally a normal high school girl after a long battle with leukemia, Leigh hides herself in the cemetery’s office and tries to avoid forming relationships. Like her parents, Leigh sacrificed a lot for Kai’s recovery, but she isn’t bitter. She adores her sister. Instead, she has closed herself off from feeling, hoping to avoid hurting or losing anyone again. When the local florists’ daughter and the new groundskeeper enter her life, she struggles to keep them at arm’s length. As she begins to let her guard down, she realizes that loss is a part of life and must decide if she is ready to let go of some painful events in her past to start really living again. In her debut, Longo deftly combines Leigh’s wry wit with an exceptional cast of well-developed characters to create a novel that is equal parts poignant and humorous. Readers will find themselves rooting for Leigh as she returns to the world around her.
Superb. (Fiction. 12-16)
Pub Date: Aug. 26th, 2014 ISBN: 978-0-449-81871-8 Page count: 352pp Publisher: Random House Review Posted Online: June 4th, 2014 Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15th, 2014