Customer Review
Encore--wishing for a sequel to this book
Confession: I am not a tween. I am...uh...I am the age of someone who could be the mother of a tween. But I read this book anyway, with no affinity for noir movies and uh, being outside the age range of the book's audience. I do, however, have an affinity for sharp writing, a voice I can fall in love with, characters I can root for over the span of 100+ pages, and a plot that takes me out of my life and into the life of said characters.Nova Ren Suma hits it out of the ballpark with Dani's voice and the characters in this novel. Dani's struggles with friendships, alienation, a long summer, and family are universal themes for everyone, including tweens, and so she is someone most readers can and will relate to. Additionally, Suma's writing is so sharp, the story so detailed, that I even found myself being very interested in noir movies, a genre that Suma uses to great effect in this novel, and uses in a way that doesn't exclude me as someone who isn't familiar with the...
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October 3, 2009
(Berkeley, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5
Made me want to watch Noir film...
Dani Callanzano is stuck in her nothing-ever-happens town with only her favorite noir mysteries at the Little Art movie theatre to keep her company. Her best friend has moved out of town and no longer calls Dani often. Her father also is getting remarried and she will be getting a mean sister-in-law, Nichole. So she is alone in the town. But one day a real-life mystery begins to unravel at Little Art! And it all has something to do with a girl in polka-dot tights. Dani is armed with a vivid imagination, a flair for the dramatic, and a knowledge of all things Rita Hayworth. She sets out to solve the mystery and learns more about herself than she ever thought that she would.This book had an awesomeness that is hard to explain. Dani is stubborn, which is usual for most thirteen years old. I am going to have to check out some more noir movies, since I haven't seen them all. It was great to see Dani's love of movies and how passionate she was about all things Rita Hayworth. I also...
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September 26, 2009
(Bremerton, WA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5
Product Description
Life echoes art in this sassy, heartwrenching coming-of-age story from the author of Imaginary Girls.
It’s summer and Dani Callanzano has been abandoned by everyone she knows. Her dad moved out, her mom is all preoccupied being broken-hearted, and her closest friend just moved away. Basically it’s the end of the world.
At least she has the Little Art, her favorite local arthouse movie theater. Dani loves all the old black-and-white noir thrillers with their damsels in distress and their low camera angles. It also doesn’t hurt that Jackson, the guy who works the projection reel, is super cute and nice and funny. And completely off-limits, of course—he’s Dani’s friend’s boyfriend, and they are totally, utterly perfect together.
But one day, Dani stumbles across a shocking secret about Jackson—a secret too terrible for her to keep. She finds herself caught in the middle of a love triangle with enough drama to rival the noir-est film noir she’s ever seen.
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Wonderful
Dani Callanzano is thirteen, going into eighth grade, and living a ho-hum life in Shanosha, New York. Craving the dramatics of the noir films she loves, run at the town's Little Art theatre, Dani is intrigued when a mysterious girl in polka dot tights appears. Soon she's investigating strange circumstances, just like her celluloid heroes. But in solving the mystery, Dani discovers there's more to it and her life than she ever thought possible. Since I love classic movies and anything that is "noir," I knew I'd love this novel. Who couldn't love a novel that namedrops Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles? I was right - there's a lot to love.One of the big strengths of Dani Noir, author Nova Ren Suma's style of writing is cinematic, with each word easily conjuring images in the viewer's mind. Here the screenwriting adage "show, don't tell" is followed - we can visualize Dani's quiet life easily. "A slow fade-in on my life: There's this little mountain town, smack...
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September 13, 2009
(USA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4