Before, After, and Somebody in Between

This book is a heart-lurching, breath-stealing look into the gritty life of Martha Kowalski, whose recently rehabbed mother has dragged her to live with Mama's latest boyfriend in a new urban neighborhood. By the end of Martha's first day at the tough Cleveland school, she has already made one blood enemy and one good friend. Before long tragedy strikes, and Martha is thrown into the foster care system. By a combination of luck and determination, she lands on her feet, finding a home with the well-to-do Brinkman family. Suddenly her life is nearly perfect; she has all the material possessions she could want, attends an upscale school, and she is encouraged to pursue her dream of becoming a concert cellist. She leaves everything, her friends, even her name, behind. Everything but her guilt, that is. Will her new life last? Should it last? Martha is smart, cynical, funny, talented, and sometimes a go-getter, but can she stay afloat, never mind succeed, in spite of the many strikes against her? If you give Martha a chance, she ll take you by the neck and drag you in. I finished all 352 pages of her story in one night. And maybe, like me, you'll find your thoughts returning to Martha again and again. She's just that kind of haunting character. This tale is rich in detail, surprisingly so, considering its breakneck pace. By story's end, Jeannine Garsee brings all the myriad threads together in fresh and surprising ways. Garsee wastes nothing and spares the reader even less. I expect to read many more marvelous stories from this author in the future. In fact, I can hardly wait.

This book will resonate with anyone, young or old, who has ever dreamed of growing beyond a difficult childhood into one's passions and gifts. Garsee captures exquisitely the ambivalence of the parentified child-- loving a deeply flawed parent and hating the parent in equal measure for continually disappointing, worrying for the parent's safety while resenting that there is no one to keep the child safe, in Martha's case from being bullied, from unintended tragedy, from the rollercoaster highs and lows of adolescent life. Beautifully written, with indelible characters and a page-turning plot that grips the reader from start to finish, Before, After, and Somebody in Between, ends in hope while never lapsing into 'happily ever after'. I am a grandmother and I could not put this book down!!

before, after,and Somebody in between is a gritty novel about growing up in an impossible situation and coming out a Winner. Fourteen year old Martha Kowalski dreams of one day being a Celloist Only one thing would stop her and Alcoholic mother who thinks its nonsense. Martha is the only white girl in a ghetto school. And . . . not entirely acepted by all her classmates. Especially Chardonnay. Chardonny pulls her into a confrontation and Martha gets caught with a knife. She ends up in jail. Every cloud has a silver lining and for Martha her sliver lining was Richard and Claudia Brinkman.

When Martha's mom gets out of rehab and drags Martha to live with her latest boyfriend it's nothing new. Ever since her father's death, Martha's life has been a string of moving from place to place, constantly watching out for her mom. But this time the new boyfriend lives in a part of town where 'white girls don't belong,' as her classmates at school have no problem telling her. Martha is plunged into a world of gang violence and drugs, metal detectors at school, threats from other students, and violence at home. But she still manages to make a few friends at school and with the family that lives upstairs. And when she signs up for orchestra and discovers the joy of playing the cello, she thinks things might have finally turned around. Until an act of violence sends everything spiraling out of control. BEFORE, AFTER, AND SOMEBODY IN BETWEEN is a gritty and realistic tale of a girl trying to escape her parent's poor choices and make a life for herself. Told unflinchingly in the first person, Garsee doesn't hesitate from portraying teen violence, sex, and drug and alcohol use as the traps that they can be, but she does so with gentle humor and a compassionate eye. Martha is a flawed heroine, coming to terms with her own faults and the addictive tendencies she may have inherited from her mother, but readers will root for her to succeed. This book is not a light-hearted tale, and at times the string of bad events can feel unrelenting, but Garsee shows the bright spots to be found in even the deepest tragedies. Recommended for older readers only. Contains drug and alcohol use, sex, and profanity. Reviewed by: Dena Landon