The Edge of Falling

January 6, 2014
Last spring, Caggie (short for Mcalister) Caulfield lost her younger sister and saved a classmate named Kristen from jumping off a New York City building. As school starts up again, Caggie is no longer with her longtime boyfriend, Trevor; her father is absent; her mother is more superficial than ever; her older brother is acting weird; her best friend is attending another school; and there’s a mysterious new boy named Astor who keeps showing up everywhere she goes. Worse, everyone at Caggie’s private academy insists on congratulating Caggie for saving Kristen when she feels like anything but a hero. There’s something about that night on the roof that Caggie is holding back, and only she and Kristen know the truth. Serle’s (When You Were Mine) prose is lyrical and holds up well to the heavy emotions in this story. That Caggie’s name, dark moods, and Manhattan meanderings echo those of Salinger’s Holden Caulfield is intentional on the author’s part, driving the story’s momentum as her heroine reckons with the truth of her past. Ages 14–up. Agent: Mollie Glick, Foundry Literary + Media.

April 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Caggie Caulfield's life changed forever the night her little sister died. How could Caggie be expected to ever return to normal after Hayley's death? But time presses on, and she is now starting a new school year at Kensington Prep. Life amongst Manhattan's posh elite seems emptier than normal as she drifts apart from her BFF Claire and is forced to see ex-boyfriend Trevor in class. No one knows what it's like-or what really happened on the rooftop last spring. When Caggie meets Astor, she feels like she can escape her family, her friends, and herself whenever she spends time with him. If Caggie could just drift through life, maybe she'd never really have to feel anything again or ever tell the truth about what she's really done. Serle explores grief and depression while paying homage toThe Catcher in the Rye (Holden Caulfield is the protagonist's grandfather). The teen is closed to everyone in her life but slowly opens up about what really happened and how she actually feels. The pacing crawls at times, and Caggie is not as compelling as her grandfather when it comes to relatability. Still, the emotional focus and Salinger references may be enough to grab attention. A possible recommendation for fans of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why (Penguin, 2007) and other books that tackle suicide and depression.-Emily Moore, Camden County Library System, NJ

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Following her sister's tragic death, privileged Manhattan teen Caggie Caulfield (granddaughter of the iconic Holden) just wants to disappear into her own grief. Enter Astor, who has secrets and a dark past of his own and who just might help Caggie open up. Though the pace is slow, the novel offers unique references to Salinger and a compelling exploration of depression's depths.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

February 1, 2014
Wealthy high school junior Mcalister "Caggie" Caulfield seeks relief from grief over her younger sister's death by entering into a dangerous relationship with a mysterious boy. After her little sister drowns in the pool at her family's beach house in the Hamptons, Caggie wants to die too, to the point that she contemplates jumping off the roof at a friend's party in Manhattan. A schoolmate named Kristen saves her at the last minute but nearly falls herself. Caggie actually ends up pulling Kristen back and is credited as a hero, which only makes her feel worse. In her grief, Caggie spurns the attentions of her best friend and devoted boyfriend, but she finds a kindred spirit in Astor, a tall, dark and damaged new boy at school who recently lost his mother to cancer. But what Caggie comes to realize about her relationship with Astor is that "[d]arkness stacked on darkness just makes it that much harder to find the light." After another nearly fatal disaster with Astor at the beach house, Caggie is forced to confront the falsehoods she has told her family and friends and let go of her guilt over her sister's death. Though Caggie makes a point of telling readers that her paternal grandfather called people like her "phony," almost nothing is made of the connection to Catcher in the Rye, and it serves merely to make Caggie's tale suffer by comparison. Flat secondary characterizations and humdrum dialogue won't keep teens from relishing this histrionic tale of love, death and lies. (Fiction. 12-15)

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