22 Nov / Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed [in Booklist]
Friends from infancy, Jamie and Maya haven’t seen each other in almost 10 years – until food-related fiascos (runaway tangelos, tipped-over soggy pastries) lead to an awkward reunion. Both now 17, white Jewish Jamie has grown up shy, clumsy, and especially wary of public speaking. Pakistani Muslim Maya is reeling from her parents’ separation and losing her BFF to college.
That summer, Jamie and Maya are reluctantly re-paired, volunteered by their mothers to campaign for “awesome Rossum” for Senate. They’re not old enough to vote, but door-to-door canvassing will teach them plenty about just how personal politics always are.
YA darlings Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed’s alternating chapters get aurally ciphered by veteran Michael Crouch as Jamie and newbie Tiya Sircar – a TV/film actor making her audiobook debut – as Maya. While both are singularly well cast, they aren’t quite as successful à deux when their characters overlap in their individual chapters. Crouch’s Jamie, for example, is appropriately hesitant, slowly gaining confidence; Sircar’s Jamie never quite settles into self-comfort. While a good-enough audiobook is better than none, despite challenging logistics, producers should consider IRL-combined recordings for more resonating results.
Review: modified from “Media,” Booklist Online, November 13, 2020
Readers: Young Adult
Published: 2020