“Her Name in the Sky” is a young adult novel written by Kelly Quindlen and was released in 2014.
My Thoughts
“Her Name in the Sky” is a roller coaster of emotions. And on this roller coaster, you cross themes like religion, love, friendship and hate and discrimination. I found the bundling of these themes exciting but at the same time frustrating because it confronted you with a lot of pain.
You follow the main character, Hannah, and her coming of age. As usual at this age, she has to overcome some difficulties, such as heartbreak. Besides her, the author also introduces a few of her friends. Some of them were redundant, and it became too much with all these characters in the story.
However, one of these characters is Baker. She is Hannah’s best friend and her love interest. And the latter causes a lot of problems because Baker keeps hurting Hannah as she is not aware of her own feelings. I could empathise with her inner conflicts caused by her sexual orientation. When you come to a point in your life where you realise who you really are, it can throw you off track. But honestly, Baker was selfish and drove me crazy with her heinous behaviour.
I found this book to be average. It is neither bad nor exceptional. But the behaviour of some characters was just annoying to me. I can understand that some readers find issues like coming out in a religious setting important for themselves, though.
My rating for ‘Her Name in the Sky’
The book was decent. I didn’t love it, and I didn’t dislike it. A few things could be improved, but I still recommend it.
About the author
Kelly Quindlen is an American author for young adults. She became better known in the LGBT community through her work “Her Name in Heaven”.
After that, she wrote other novels such as “Drives Me Crazy” and “Late to the Party”. She is also involved in a non-profit organisation for Catholic parents with LGBT children.