SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

January 31, 2017 by Amanda MacGregor

Book Review: The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu

January 31, 2017 by Amanda MacGregor   Leave a Comment

carefulPublisher’s description

The girls of Devonairre Street have always been told they’re cursed. Any boy they love is certain to die too soon. But this is Brooklyn in 2008, and the curse is less a terror and more a lifestyle accessory—something funky and quaint that makes the girls from the shortest street in Brooklyn special. They wear their hair long and keys around their necks. People give them a second look and whisper “Devonairre” to their friends. But it’s not real. It won’t affect their futures.

Then Jack—their Jack, the one boy everyone loved—dies suddenly and violently. And now the curse seems not only real, but like the only thing that matters. All their bright futures have suddenly gone dark.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

The Careful Undressing of Love is a disturbing and sensual story of the power of youth and the boundless mysteries of love set against the backdrop of Haydu’s brilliantly reimagined New York City.

 

Amanda’s thoughts

I know better than to judge a book by its cover. But in the case of A CAREFUL UNDRESSING OF LOVE, you can look at it and make a completely accurate judgement: lovely cover, lovely book. Come for the cover, stay for the devastatingly moving story about love and loss.

 

Lorna and her four closest friends (Delilah, Charlotte, Isla, and her brother Cruz) are a package deal. The fact that they live on the same street and all have dead fathers would be enough to unite them, but it’s the traditions and beliefs of Devonairre Street that solidify them. It’s their Shared Birthday. It’s the keys around their necks. It’s the Curse: if a Devonairre Street girl falls in love with a boy, he will die. The proof is in all the widows on their street. Angelika, the 70-something head of their street, never lets the girls forget that love will only cause unspeakable pain. But Lorna and her friends aren’t entirely sure they buy into the Curse. They aren’t afraid of love—or they don’t want to be. Or maybe they don’t actually know how they feel about any of it at all. Lorna enjoys her boyfriend Owen. She likes to be around him. She likes to have sex with him. She knows she loves things about him, but that’s not the same as being in love. And she’s not sure that there’s any appeal for her in love, anyway. Look around.

 

When Delilah’s boyfriend, Jack, is struck and killed by a taxi, all of their relationships with the Curse and with being Devonairre Street girls change. For Delilah, it makes her believe. She aligns herself with Angelika and carries the guilt of having caused Jack’s death. It changes her, driving a wedge between Delilah and Lorna, who she now wants to save from love. Lorna’s mother thinks it’s time to stop going along with all of Angelika’s silly Curse nonsense. She begins to stand up to the street, breaking Angelika’s rules and giving Lorna the courage to think of the Curse and the traditions as something she can opt out of. But it’s not that easy, especially as revelations throw everything Lorna thought she understood into doubt. And untangling love from curses, grief and loss from life, proves to be more difficult than she could have imagined. It’s hard to try to move on with your life when you’re surrounded by a world  that won’t let you. How can you possibly live in a present when you are constantly reminded of your past and warned of your future?

 

Haydu has written a profound story examining grief, doubt, tradition, expectation, and identity. Haydu’s story brings up huge questions about sacrifice and protection, about truth and perception. We are asked to consider, right alongside Lorna and crew, if love if a decision. Lorna and her friends know grief and pain, but they are still young. They are still learning that loss and heartache are inherent in love. And they can’t protect themselves from that—not by chalking things up to a Curse, not by drinking certain teas, not by building cages around their hearts, not by anything. They don’t yet know that we are all Affected, that we are all Cursed. In their isolation, they don’t understand that everyone has lost loved ones, that everyone blames themselves. Thanks to the relentlessness of Angelika, the Devonairre Street girls feel like they are the only ones protecting themselves, denying themselves, and stumbling under the dizzying weight of grief and guilt. Lorna, Delilah, Charlotte, and Isla’s whole lives are filled with people making them feel Other because of this. They don’t yet understand these are the prices we pay for being alive, for being the survivors. Their search for this understanding, their stumbling for answers and finding new pain, is heartbreaking. This beautifully written story is not to be missed. A powerful and deeply profound exploration of love, tragedy, and life itself.

 

Review copy courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9780399186738

Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Publication date: 01/31/2017

Filed under: Book Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
Book reviewsGriefIdentityLossLove

About Amanda MacGregor

Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

March 2023

Book Review: Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave with illustrations by Tom de Freston

by Amanda MacGregor

March 2023

Book Review: Different for Boys by Patrick Ness with illustrations by Tea Bendix

by Amanda MacGregor

March 2023

Book Review: The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent by Ann Jacobus

by Amanda MacGregor

February 2023

Book Review: For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome

by Amanda MacGregor

February 2023

Book Review: She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

by Amanda MacGregor

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

2023 Caldecott Jump

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Creating a Collective Black Ancestry: Researcher Kimberly Annece Henderson Discusses Dear Yesteryear

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Recent Graphic Novel Deals, Early Mar 2023 | News

by Johanna

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Book Review: Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave with illustrations by Tom de Freston

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Newbery Medalist Amina Luqman-Dawson visits The Yarn

by Colby Sharp

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Not Just for the Pre-K Crowd: Picture Books To Share with Tweens and Teens

14 Funny Titles for Teens | Summer Reading 2020

2 Contemporary Retellings of 'Pride and Prejudice'

19 Webcomics To Keep Kids and Teens Engaged

10 Manga Titles for Teens Who Watch Anime

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023