Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
When
Claudia returned home from spending the summer with her grandmamma the first
person, she asked about was Monday. They usually exchanged letters over the
summer, since neither has a cellphone, and Monday hadn’t responded to any of
Claudia’s letter. But even now that she was back, Monday was nowhere to be
found. Her number wasn’t working, and she wasn’t at school the first day, or
the day after that. Weeks went by and no one had seen Monday. Monday’s mom
claimed she was with her father while her sister claimed she was with an aunt.
No one even bothered answering questions about August, Monday’s little brother.
Claudia’s mother thought she may simple have moved like her family. Claudia’s
father thought that maybe they two eighth graders were growing apart. But no
one understood that Monday would have never left Claudia like that. And Claudia
was left navigating the world without her best, and only friend. As the months
went by the only one who would never stop looking was Claudia.
I’ve
read all three of Jackson’s books, enjoyed them all but this is just different.
It’s a mystery and also coming of age story. Claudia seems like she’s drowning
in world that she never learned to navigate without Monday. The concern and
love Claudia has for Monday as well as the desperation she has in find her is
the driving force for this novel. As we get deeper into the story, and the
layers begin to pull away we learn that they both have secrets that they’ve
been hiding from the people around them. And as time goes on and those secrets
start to become known, Claudia has to not only deal with the consequences of
those secrets, she has to learn how to exist in world without Monday.
Jackson’s
ability to develop extremely compelling, authentic characters is shown off in
this book. Monday’s Not Coming is told in first person by Claudia who is
an extremely loving and intuitive teenager. The way she describes the world
around her and the people she interacts with, is really unique. There are
moments when she uses colors to describe people and the descriptions were so
poetic. I always felt in the moment with her and I was completely wrapped up in
the search for Monday. And it wasn’t just because of the character development.
This story had amazing world development as well as pacing, throughout the
story. Jackson also dug deep into what it means to be judged unfairly because
of where you come from and the ways in which poverty can affect how you’re
viewed and advocated for or against. It explored sexuality as, what it means to
explore being sexual at a young age and how people judge that as well. Abuse is
also something discussed. None of this is taken lightly. Jackson explores all
of these topics in a way that is both respectful of victims but extremely
realistic.
This is
my favorite of Jackson’s books. I feel like it has the best writing and I love
the way she chose to tell this story. After reading the book, I have a whole
new understanding of why the book was written the way it was. I already know
it’s a story I will revisit soon. I am highly recommending this book. I
devoured it. Couldn’t put it down. I’m giving it 5 out of 5 stars.
Comments
Post a Comment