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Girl, Unframed Hardcover – 23 Jun. 2020

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

A teen girl's summer with her mother turns sinister in this gripping thriller about the insidious dangers of unwanted attention, from Printz Honor medal-winning and National Book Award finalist author Deb Caletti--perfect for fans of Courtney Summers's Sadie.

Sydney Reilly has a bad feeling about going home to San Francisco before she even gets on the plane. How could she not? Her mother is Lila Shore--the Lila Shore--a film star who prizes her beauty and male attention above all else...certainly above her daughter.

But Sydney's worries multiply when she discovers that Lila is involved with the dangerous Jake, an art dealer with shady connections. Jake loves all beautiful objects, and Sydney can feel his eyes on her whenever he's around. And he's not the only one. Sydney is starting to attract attention--good and bad--wherever she goes: from sweet, handsome Nicco Ricci, from the unsettling construction worker next door, and even from Lila. Behaviors that once seemed like misunderstandings begin to feel like threats as the summer grows longer and hotter.

It's unnerving, how beauty is complicated, and objects have histories, and you can be looked at without ever being seen. But real danger, crimes of passion, the kind of stuff where someone gets killed--it only mostly happens in the movies, Sydney is sure. Until the night something life-changing happens on the stairs that lead to the beach. A thrilling night that goes suddenly very wrong. When loyalties are called into question. And when Sydney learns a terrible truth: beautiful objects can break.

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Review

Caletti (A Heart in a Body in the World) offers a riveting, meticulously plotted mystery with plenty of drama alongside an exploration of objectification and the male gaze. San Francisco's sandy beaches, unusual structures, and mysterious caves reflect Sydney's feelings of loneliness, eeriness, and passion, and her eventual sense of power. --Publishers Weekly, starred review

Caletti is at the top of her game in this fully dimensional mystery... With a subtle, believable twist that encapsulates this particular mother/daughter relationship, Caletti delivers the near impossible: a page-turner grounded in thoughtful feminism. There are so many beautiful small touches, from the multiple meanings of the title to the sweet rituals Syd and Nicco develop to the importance of therapy to recover from trauma. Name recognition aside, this is a title deserving wide promotion and discussion.--Booklist, starred review

Caletti's novel is a brilliant coming-of-age story wrapped in a page-turning thriller. The atmospheric San Francisco setting enhances the overall moodiness, anxiety, and restlessness of a young woman moving from girlhood to adulthood and finding herself under the male gaze for the first time. Sydney's understanding of herself and her place in the world is upended as she deals with best friends, first boyfriends, sexual harassment, and domestic abuse. Caletti's sharp, complex, well-drawn character will compel and delight readers. VERDICT Ultimately hopeful, this is one for fans of realistic contemporary dramas, with a side of mystery, and excellent writing throughout.--School Library Journal, starred review

Syd's story outlines important, uncomfortable experiences many girls face without either flinching or offering a picture-perfect ending... A frank, engrossing examination of the ways society complicates young women's burgeoning sexuality.--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

The plot is clearly inspired by the 1958 killing of Lana Turner's abusive boyfriend by her daughter (Lila is also embarking on a role in
Peyton Place, just as Turner did), but even readers unfamiliar with that saga will catch the clear danger and the ramping up of tension here (chapters even open with references to evidence as "exhibits"). Caletti uses the Turner incident as the scaffold for a gimlet-eyed examination of the vulnerability of women and, especially, teen girls in the contemporary world; of their objectification and agency and shame. She's unerring in her depiction of the microaggressions Syd experiences, the family's long history of domestic abuse, and of Jake himself, whose combination of likability, off-kilterness, and menace makes him plausible and plausibly difficult to leave for multiple reasons. This would partner superbly with Romanoff's Look (BCCB 3/20) for an exploration of the world's crippling scrutiny of and expectations for young women. --BCCB, starred review

About the Author

Deb Caletti is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of over sixteen books for adults and young adults, including Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, a finalist for the National Book Award; A Heart in a Body in the World, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; Girl, Unframed; and One Great Lie. Her books have also won the Josette Frank Award for Fiction, the Washington State Book Award, and numerous other state awards and honors, and she was a finalist for the PEN USA Award. She lives with her family in Seattle.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atheneum Books for Young Readers (23 Jun. 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1534426973
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1534426979
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 - 17 years
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 3.05 x 20.96 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

About the author

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Deb Caletti
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DEB CALETTI is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of over twenty books for adults and young adults, including HONEY, BABY, SWEETHEART, a finalist for the National Book Award; A HEART IN A BODY IN THE WORLD, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; and GIRL, UNFRAMED, which received seven starred reviews. Her books have also won the Josette Frank Award for Fiction, the Washington State Book Award, and numerous other state awards and honors, and she was a finalist for the PEN USA Award. Her latest book for young adult readers is THE EPIC STORY OF EVERY LIVING THING, which has received five starred reviews, and which Kirkus called, "An epic tale of life, love, and identity." She is also the author of the Tales of Triumph and Disaster series for middle grade readers. She lives with her family in Seattle.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
29 global ratings

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 July 2022
    ‘I slipped off my sandals and took photos of my feet in the water, because this was me, drowning.’

    Powerful, propulsive, important, compelling, angry; all words that can be used to describe this book. In general I’m not the sort of reader who looks for the hidden meaning in the text or goes on about its messages because I read for pleasure, not to deconstruct whatever novel I happen to be immersed within. Yet with this book its messages are so clear, beautifully nuanced, and practically jump off of the page. They play a vital role in the story and are shared, time and time again, in such a stunning and powerful way. The justifiable anger that Sydney experiences for the way that she’s made to feel about herself and her own desires is painted so vividly across this book’s pages and all in all it led to a surprisingly deep yet utterly gripping read.

    The writing style of this novel is almost conversational in a way. From the start you feel as if Sydney is talking to you, yet it’s still carefully written and shares some very vivid imagery at times. The number of quotes that I could have highlighted is pretty astounding truthfully. Definitely not what I was expecting from a YA contemporary offering. The way that it’s written also adds to the suspense on occasion – remarks getting made about what came later, leaving you increasingly curious as to exactly what will happen at the end of this book.

    All of the characters are vivid and believable, differing from one another in various ways. Sydney is a strong, young woman trying to get to grips with the world around her. Her mother, Lila, is an incredibly complex star and a huge contrast to Sydney’s friend Meredith’s mother. Nicco was delightful from the very first page and the relationship that developed between him and Sydney felt utterly believable too. And the ‘creeps’ definitely gave off some highly leery vibes at times to say the least.

    Altogether I’m honestly a little bit amazed by just how much I enjoyed this novel. It was a lot deeper than I would have guessed at in advance and compelling enough that it was simply impossible to put down. Be warned though, it does deal with a lot of potentially traumatic issues so please do check out its triggers if necessary. One thing’s for certain – I’ll definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

Top reviews from other countries

  • LauraM
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Timeless and Timely Coming of Age Tale
    Reviewed in the United States on 26 June 2020
    This book made me lose a lot of sleep this week. It's loosely based on the infamous case where Lana Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane kills Turner's lover. The voice drew me in, and held me captive until 1-2 AM for three nights. I didn't want to leave Sydney Reilly in that mansion overlooking the ocean where at any moment something menacing and brutal could happen.

    Caletti deftly captures the volatility of a girl on the precipice between childhood and adulthood, where she suddenly notices the power of her body and yet how that body can also render a victim to timeless male dominance. Sydney wants to be "seen" as a thinking, feeling human being, but she's largely only looked at as treasured object by the creepy construction guy next door, her mother's latest boyfriend, and her own mother. This book made me recall incidents in my own past being ogled by men, and that initial rush of being "noticed," using the tools of youthful physical beauty, yet later feeling defensive for not seen as anything as eye candy. As women, we are simultaneously powerful and powerless.

    This is a great book for mothers and daughters to read together. I wish this book had been around when I was blooming into my sexual awareness, torn between spending time with my girlfriends or ditching plans to make-out with my boyfriend.

    One of my favorite characters is Max, the dog. He's the thread that holds Syd together throughout. This is a YA, yet adults will also enjoy this. Like her previous novel, A Heart In The Body of the World, this is sure to win many awards.
  • Thebookbella
    4.0 out of 5 stars 🎬🎬The beautiful isn't present for your entertainment🎬🎬
    Reviewed in the United States on 26 July 2020
    "My body was a billboard to remark on. My body was someone else's entertainment, a story that had notthing to do with me at all. I was a painting. Girl, oil on canvas".

    Sydney Reilly spends most of her year living with her grandmother and attending private school. It's summer and she is getting ready to go back home to San Francisco to stay with her mom, Lila for the summer. Lila is this famous actress who lives in a large house. Sydney has a bad feeling about going home. It nags at her and is a constantly in the background of her mind; and impending dread that something bad is going to happen. This feeling begins to crystallize as she meets Lila's new boyfriend, Jake who is a mysterious and dangerous man.

    Sydney has just turned 16 and as she develops into a woman she is also turning heads. She feels eyes on her and she feels them from many different men.

    This book has a feeling of being almost a Hollywood crime thriller as we have a a movie star and dangerous men in the picture. This is part of the feeling of this book but it is more apart of the scenery than apart of the wider plot line. What this book is really about is desire, beauty and the need to be seen. People can look at you like you're an object and never really see you. You can be treated like a silly girl and never really hold any value other than the desire others have for you and your beauty as currency for your worth. Sydney's narrative POV really dives into wanting to not merely exist in the world, but to be fully present in it. To be valued for more than an object, but to really be seen as a human being.

    This point is expounded upon with Jake who is an art dealer. We see all the paintings and sculptures he deals in the be that of naked women, some of them faceless. These paintings are valued for only their entertainment value as fully nude artistic displays of women that are widely sought after even on illegal markets. The women themselves, in these paintings, mean very little. The real value in the paintings is in what they have to offer for the men who buy them.

    With Lila being an actress who is regularly framed on the big screen as well as on the movie posters of her house we see what women become when they have experienced a lifetime of being devalued. Lila, ironically enough, is never referred to "mom" or "mother" or any variant of the like by Sydney. Lila is another faceless women on a canvas who has spent her life doing whatever she needed to to feel worthy and valuable. This often lead Lila to having toxic relationships with men and not being a real parent to Sydney. Sydney frequently felt the emotional absence of her mother.

    Sydney has a love internet throughout this called Nicco. His angle is also quite interesting as he begins by being the only one who does not immediately notice Sydney. He does not stare at her or treat her as an object. He is 17 years-old and the strong contrast to the rest of the males in this book. He dose not immediate rush into treating Sydney like property. Even with his sharp contrast, he is not discribed as being the one that "sees" her. Rather he is used to show how desire can go both ways. Sydney desires Nicco, and she discribes how it overwhelms and consumes her. It is a fire that burns.

    This book really dives into how being seen as beautiful is just as dangerous as being seen as flawed. There is power in being beautiful, there is power in being desired. But those things are also made to feel shameful if they are too wild and uncontrollable. How an individual can be shamed for the same things that make them feel powerful and end up feeling powerless.

    This book really pronounces all of the things that women deal with. This is a feminist and powerful narrative that has left me with many thoughts. It captures beauty, desire and objectification really well and it drives it home.

    Our dangerous man Jake and the mystery behind him isn't all that well fleshed out. This was used as a backdrop to the narrative the author felt was more important to get across. The narrative of being truly seen. You never ended up with all the details about Jake or why he was dangerous, but he knew enough to know he was not a good person.

    Nicco was also a character that did not feel well fleshed out. I did like him for the role that he played, but he was also more of a backdrop to the narrative the author wanted to emphasize. Nicco was the one being desired and we needed to see how desire someone (Sydney) could be effected by beauty and desire. Nicco was often referred to as being extremely good looking.

    Overall this was a fantastic book and made so many excellent points about desire and the objectification of women. It lightly discusses the double standard of girls who lose their virginity as being less virtuous, while guys don't have to worry about that. This book was powerful and will leave a lasting impression.
  • Carolyn Cross Ward
    5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating!
    Reviewed in the United States on 28 June 2020
    Awesome new Deb Caletti thriller! I loved every twist and turn. Great, creepy foreshadowing and an unexpected climax. Readers who are not fans of feminism may be put off by the repeated "lessons," but I wasn't. It was just a great summer read.
  • 4Graces
    4.0 out of 5 stars NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS
    Reviewed in the United States on 7 July 2020
    I like Caletti's writing, but I am always a little disappointed by her "summing up" endings. I looked at another review page and found no reference to the obvious inspiration for this novel, the Lana Turner 1958 scandal of the movie star's boyfriend being murdered either by the actress or her teenage daughter, and the daughter took the blame. Of course this book has the disclaimer about being a work of fiction with no connection to real people. Actually, I was about a third of the way through the book before I realized where it was going. I realize that foul-mouthed language is the common discourse among today's young women, but it still puts me off. Raging sex in the early teen years is all too common, too. Even with all this seeming liberation, the young woman in Caletti's story is guarded and feels misunderstood by everyone but her dog Max. Honestly, I don't think I would give this book to a young or mid-teen. It is more adult than it is purported to be.
  • CSG
    4.0 out of 5 stars YA version of Big Little Lies
    Reviewed in the United States on 23 September 2020
    It's a YA version of Big Little Lies, both in narrative format and subject matter. I liked it. More typos than usual for Caletti's books, and fewer callbacks to her other books in the same universe (since Girl, Unframed takes place in San Francisco), but overall very good. She says important things, and I wish she had been this vocal about feminist issues in her earlier books, which I read when I was actually a young adult. Sometimes these statements felt preachy or repetative, but let's be honest: how women and girls are actually treated by society often feels repetative, too.