Review: Alma Presses Play
Alma Presses Play by Tina Cane Make Me a World (imprint of Penguin Random House) Category: Young Adult Reviewer: A.R. Vishny Buy at Bookshop.org Alma Presses Play by Tina Crane is a historical novel in verse, set in New York City’s East Village in the 1980s. Alma Rosen, who is Jewish and Chinese, loves music, her neighborhood, and her parents, who are inching closer to divorce by the day. As their marriage comes apart and as Alma matures, she must decide where she belongs. This is a gorgeous verse novel, that renders Alma’s world in rich, effortless detail. Alma’s struggles with getting older, managing her friendships as they reach various cross-roads, and navigating complicated family dynamics make for a quiet and yet immersive read. Readers who tend to find that parents are typically footnotes in YA will appreciate the way this book portrays Alma’s family. Her mother’s evasiveness and her father’s frustrated dreams emerge in the text in interesting, nuanced ways and cre