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Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn, reviewed by Tiffany M.

In her first novel, Rachel Cohn writes a story about a teen going through life problems and how she deals with them in the summer at New York City. In Gingerbread, we read about a teenage girl’s relationship with her family and friends. We follow her story on discovering who she is and how she fits in the world.

Cyd Charisse is back home at San Francisco after being kicked out of a fancy boarding school in New England. At home she falls in love with her boyfriend, Shrimp, and makes a new friend in the nursing home, Sugar. Despite the new love and friendship, things at home aren’t too pleasant. Living with her parents, Nancy and Sid, Cyd goes through many arguments and disputes with them. To make matters worse, toward the beginning of summer, Shrimp breaks up with Cyd. Luckily, Cyd has Gingerbread, her childhood doll that she can talk to. When Nancy offers to let Cyd spend the summer in New York City with her biological father, Frank, and his family, Cyd happily takes the offer. Hoping to get away from her troubles at home, Cyd boards the plane with eagerness. Yet, summer in the city is different from what Cyd expects. She meets her family, learns more about her past, and secrets are revealed. The summer helped Cyd understand herself. It also taught her abut love, life, and hope. The city opened new experiences, and helped Cyd go through life obstacles.

Gingerbread offers a story about a teenage girl going through problems that many other teens can relate to. It can give a look at kids with biological families. The book deals with other themes such as love, abortion, heterosexual relationships, and more. The novel is fast paced and keeps the reader hooked. The novel can be witty and humorous.

Readers may find the book to be a bit too fast paced at times. Some parts of the book may be over descriptive or too confusing that you don’t know what’s happening.

Overall, Gingerbread deserves three and a half stars. Rachel Cohn writes a lovely story that keeps the reader captivated. This novel teaches us about relationships with parents, siblings, friends, and significant others. Cyd’s realizations throughout the novel show how she deals with life and the choices that she makes. Readers will enjoy the book, and hope Cyd comes to some understanding of life.