Reviews
Publishers Weekly (6/30/08)
"Baldini and Biederman make a powerful debut with this painfully
realistic tale."
Starred review, Publishers Weekly, June 30, 2008
"An ambitious, timely first novel." (Full Review)
Kirkus, June 5, 2008
"Each verbal exchange between [Amanda and her mother] crackles
with tension and pain, and readers' sympathies will move
from one to the other as more of The Captain's own troubled
childhood comes to light....[A] heartfelt debut."
All Things Girl, July 2008
"At times funny and chatty, and at other times brutally honest,
Unraveling is a riveting read that took me back to my own volatile
teen years." -- Melissa Bartell, Senior Editor (Full Review)
Mary Pearson, Golden-Kite Award-winning author of
A Room on Lorelei Street
"A surprising story about the far-reaching effects of our actions and
the courage to stop the insidious cycle of dysfunction. Most of all,
it is the story of the iron bonds of family, for better or worse..."
Kathe Koja, author of Kissing the Bee
"Honest and touching. A terrific choice for mother-daughter groups."
STORY SIREN, July 27, 2008
"What an outstanding debut novel! I look forward to reading more by
Baldini and Biederman. The plot was refreshingly original. And
Amanda's character was so truthful and raw. She's everything I
remember about being a teen, insecure, unsure, and only wishes
she was popular."
(Full Review)
BOOKLUVER-CAROL'S REVIEWS, August 25, 2008
"A great debut. They perfectly captured how a teen feels and all
that they go through...It was just so honest and it broke your
heart at times. It also captured how many teenage girls need
their mothers during their teen years although they don't show
it...Biederman and Baldini are authors to watch. I definitely
recommend this novel."
(Full Review and Author Q & A)
Mother Daughter Book Club.com
[T]he reader aches for everyone involved in the dysfunctional
dynamics of this family. the mother-daughter pair who are
constantly at odds, the mom and dad who argue over discipline
and trust, the younger sister who takes advantage of it all
to gain special privileges for herself. In short, everyone is
unraveling, and the more threads that get pulled away, the
faster the foundation continues to crumble. Just when everyone
seems on the brink of coming apart, a surprising event helps
them start to put the stitches of their lives back together.
Unraveling provides a safe place to discuss mother-daughter
conflicts and...girls who feel unloved and unaccepted and may
be less able to set acceptable boundaries for all areas of
their lives. ~Cindy Hudson
Full review at http://www.motherdaughterbookclub.com/home.html
and check out their blog for add'l comments on UNRAVELING and
the Youtube interview
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YAHZv4fCdg)
of Lynn Biederman and her mom.
KLIATT, August 2008
[A] good story of family dynamics, demonstrating the self-absorption
of a teenager that can lead to bad decision-making. In the end,
though Amanda makes some serious mistakes, she grows and learns.
(Full Review)
Teen Librarian (September 2008)
EXCELLENT!
"UNRAVELING is a provocative, amazingly realistic story
of how one girl regrettably trades her sexuality for
fleeting popularity. Honestly, this is one of the most
gripping, stunningly accurate depictions of teenage life
that I've come across in ages, and I think high school
girls should read it both as entertainment and, perhaps,
cautionary tale..." (Full Review)
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, OCTOBER 2008
Gr 9 Up – Amanda Himmelfarb is the constant victim
of The Captain, aka her mother, who spends most of her
energies either fighting with Amanda’s father or being
cruel to her older daughter... Although she is a beautiful
and intelligent young woman, as well as a talented poet,
her mother’s constant disapproval has left her with
dangerously low self-esteem, and she goes from one
disastrous sexual experience to another, allowing herself
to be used in hopes of gaining acceptance... Rife with
raw emotions, the sex scenes are both graphic and sad,
leaving readers cringing at Amanda’s self-defeating
behavior. The tension throughout the novel is so palpable....
The story moves at a quick pace, however, thanks to Amanda’s
honest and often humorous voice, as well as her thoughtful
poetry interjected throughout.
– Michelle Roberts, Merrick Library, NY
TeensReadToo (November 2008)
"Ms. Baldini and Ms. Biederman write an honest and moving
story of a girl whose world seems to be falling apart. Amanda
feels unloved and unwelcome in her own home. She searches for
meaning and acceptance and love anywhere that she can. The
depth of her feelings is believable and heartfelt. Interspersed
throughout the story are poems that Amanda writes. They tie the
story together perfectly, blending together the plot with
Amanda’s thoughts." (Full Review)
Becky's Book Reviews (November 2008)
"I loved so many things about [Unraveling]. It was a novel
that danced around hope. It had its moments of anger and
jealousy and hate and confusion and pure-angst. But it never
lost hints of hope. Hope. Grace. Redemption..." (Full Review)
BOOKISH BLATHER (December 2008)
The jacket copy on Unraveling makes it sound like this is
another Teen Sex Book, filled with morals about what teenage
sexuality is like versus what it should be like, and how you
shouldn't be pressured into sex, etc etc. That is not at all
what Unraveling is about. Yes, the specter of teen sexuality
hangs over the whole thing - Amanda is, after all, in a
hurry to grow up and wants to go "all the way", either
during a vacation to Myrtle Beach with the boy she met there
last year, or back at school with her mortal enemy's boyfriend.
But that's merely background chatter for what this book is
really about: one teenager and her mother struggling to
understand each other. (Full Review)