About the Book
Title: '89 Walls
Author: Katie Pierson
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 206
Synopsis: Seth spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS that’s killing her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity. College-bound Quinn is finishing high school on top. That cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class, though, makes her doubt herself and her old assumptions. When their passionate romance takes them both by surprise, they keep it a secret: it’s too early to make plans and too late not to care. But it’s 1989. As politics suddenly get personal, they find themselves fighting bare-fisted for their beliefs and each other—in the clear light of day.
Author: Katie Pierson
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 206
Synopsis: Seth spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS that’s killing her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity. College-bound Quinn is finishing high school on top. That cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class, though, makes her doubt herself and her old assumptions. When their passionate romance takes them both by surprise, they keep it a secret: it’s too early to make plans and too late not to care. But it’s 1989. As politics suddenly get personal, they find themselves fighting bare-fisted for their beliefs and each other—in the clear light of day.
My Review
'89 Walls is a consuming coming of age novel that takes readers on a journey through the lives, loves, struggles, and triumphs of two teens as they prepare to graduate high school and enter adulthood.
Quinn and Seth are high school seniors in Lincoln, Nebraska. Quinn has a bright future ahead of her as she prepares to head off to college at George Washington. Seth who's also quite intelligent has an uncertain future. He desires a college education and a chance to escape his circumstances, but that seems unlikely. The pair couldn't be more different, but an old love letter and chance encounter lead to a whirlwind romance fueled by political differences, deep rooted beliefs, and intense attraction.
As a high school student in 1989, there was a lot from this story I was able to identify with like the opening of the Berlin Wall, protesting in Tiananmen Square, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill to name a few. In a period of political unrest and changing times the author uses Quinn and Seth to represent the differing views in America as well as to demonstrate the importance of those differences in shaping the United States in a post Cold War world.
'89 Walls is well researched and cleverly penned resulting in an intriguing thought-provoking read. Quinn and Seth are complex characters who evolve over the course of the book adding to their believability. Although the story is set in 1989 the plot and characters are timeless and it could have easily taken place in 2015.
The story had me completely captivated and I read it in only a day. '89 Walls is a read both teens and adults will enjoy. I highly recommend picking up a copy.
Quinn and Seth are high school seniors in Lincoln, Nebraska. Quinn has a bright future ahead of her as she prepares to head off to college at George Washington. Seth who's also quite intelligent has an uncertain future. He desires a college education and a chance to escape his circumstances, but that seems unlikely. The pair couldn't be more different, but an old love letter and chance encounter lead to a whirlwind romance fueled by political differences, deep rooted beliefs, and intense attraction.
As a high school student in 1989, there was a lot from this story I was able to identify with like the opening of the Berlin Wall, protesting in Tiananmen Square, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill to name a few. In a period of political unrest and changing times the author uses Quinn and Seth to represent the differing views in America as well as to demonstrate the importance of those differences in shaping the United States in a post Cold War world.
'89 Walls is well researched and cleverly penned resulting in an intriguing thought-provoking read. Quinn and Seth are complex characters who evolve over the course of the book adding to their believability. Although the story is set in 1989 the plot and characters are timeless and it could have easily taken place in 2015.
The story had me completely captivated and I read it in only a day. '89 Walls is a read both teens and adults will enjoy. I highly recommend picking up a copy.
