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Jessica Blank is a young writer and actress who has worked in television and film as well as in theaters throughout New York. She wrote the award-winning and hugely successful play, The Exonerated, about death row inmates who have been falsely convicted and then released after being found innocent. The film version starred Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn, Danny Glover and Brian Dennehy.
Karma for Beginners
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ISBN-13:
9781423143475
- Publisher: Disney Press
- Publication date: 07/23/2010
- Sold by: DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
- Format: eBook
- File size: 428 KB
- Age Range: 12 - 17 Years
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14-year old Tessa navigates adolescence, first love, and her damaged relationship with her mother, while living live on a New Age ashram in upstate New York. A hugely compelling and highly original coming-of-age story from the author of Almost Home.
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Publishers Weekly
Blank (Almost Home) pens a second tale involving drug abuse, absentee parenting and neglected teens flouting authority. As in her debut, she sets her sights on a fringe community-this time, a hippie cult-and catalogs life there, with mixed results. Many of her descriptions of communal life border on the cliché: waifish, beatific followers in flowing skirts and white robes, chanting sessions, daily seva ("selfless service," aka chores), a lecherous TV-watching guru, and touchy-feely mantras about surrendering desires and "Purity of Being." But 14-year-old Tessa's flight from her mother, who is desperate for a spiritual makeover, despite Tessa's misery on the commune, and into the willing arms of Colin, a 20-year-old who fixes broken VW buses on the ashram, strikes a nerve. While Tessa's clandestine relationship may initially seem deliciously rebellious and romantic to some, things quickly spiral out of control, both for Tessa and her mother, whose sexual connection to the guru is revealed. Eventually, wayward mother and daughter reunite, but not before unfortunate (and implausibly wrapped-up) lessons are learned on both ends. Ages 13-up. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Children's Literature - Jody Little
Tessa is not pleased to be moving to an ashram in the Catskill's mountain, but she is used to her hippie mother's continual quest to find herself. Once they arrive, Tessa is assigned to work outdoors in the ashram's gardens where she meets Colin, a handsome twenty-year old mechanic from outside the ashram. Tessa is immediately attracted to Colin and she finds ways to break rules and continues to see him daily. While Tessa is getting closer to Colin, her mother seems to be doing everything she can to befriend the leader of the ashram, the Guru. The less Tessa sees of her mother, the more resentful she becomes of life at the ashram. This resentment leads Tessa deeper into Colin's life of sex, drugs, and music. Under the influence of drugs, Tessa, Colin, and two of his friends steal a sacred statue belonging to the ashram which ultimately leads to Colin's arrest. The arrest and the anger of the ashram members cause Tessa and her mother to look deeper at the paths their lives have taken while living at the ashram, and they make the decision to leave. Due to the inclusion of sex and drug use, this novel may disturb many teachers and parents; however, there are powerful messages in the book of belonging, forgiveness, and the importance of finding the right path for one's future. Reviewer: Jody Little
School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up—It's 1987 and Tessa's mother takes her out of ninth grade in Ohio to live at an ashram in the Catskills. Once there, Sarah leaves her daughter alone most of the time and begins staying overnight "in service" to the ostensibly celibate guru. The 15-year-old and 20-year-old Colin, a townie who fixes the ashram's fleet of VW buses, become friends, and then lovers. All the while what Tessa really wants is her mother to act like one. Blank's take on selfishness disguised as spiritual journey is deep and detailed. Tessa's arguments with Sarah will resonate with teens; Sarah gets calmer and more condescending as Tessa gets angrier and louder. Colin is well drawn and appropriately fallible, and his romance with Tessa is sincere and frustrating as it veers into a drug-induced haze and the authorities get involved. Blank's writing is fluid and readable, and the well-paced story is told with humor and empathy. The plot moves steadily toward a frenzied but believable climax, but Sarah's final turnaround is hard to swallow. While readers will sympathize with Tessa's situation, they, too, will long for a responsible adult to surface and put an end to all of the bad behavior.—Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library
Kirkus Reviews
After a promising debut in 2007's Almost Home, Blank strikes out. Fourteen-year-old Tessa trails after her hippie mother, Sarah, from town to town, boyfriend to boyfriend, searching for meaning. Sarah swears the Ashram in the Catskills will be different. There, unsupervised Tessa finds comfort in the arms of 20-year-old Colin, who introduces Tessa to sex and drugs. Sarah finds herself (while ignoring Tessa), but the genuinely powerful guru uses his charisma for personal gain and Sarah reverts to form and becomes his lover. The blink-and-you'll-miss-it resolution comes after Tessa's clumsy use of her blossoming sexual power while tripping on LSD ends with a sexual assault, and Sarah's relationship with the guru simultaneously comes to light, concluding their parallel journeys through confusion and misguided relationships. Tessa tells her mother how she feels (neglected, hurt, angry) and the two ride off into the sunset. The soundtrack of classic rock and '80s New Wave is pretty awesome, but the trite messages-sex doesn't fulfill; guys are trouble-are hardly worth the journey. (Fiction. 14 & up)