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The Gallery of Unfinished Girls
by
Lauren Karcz (Goodreads Author)
A beautiful and evocative look at identity and creativity, The Gallery of Unfinished Girls is a stunning debut in magical realism. Perfect for fans of The Walls Around Us and Bone Gap.
Mercedes Moreno is an artist. At least, she thinks she could be, even though she hasn’t been able to paint anything worthwhile in the past year.
Her lack of inspiration might be because her ab ...more
Mercedes Moreno is an artist. At least, she thinks she could be, even though she hasn’t been able to paint anything worthwhile in the past year.
Her lack of inspiration might be because her ab ...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Expected publication:
July 25th 2017
by HarperTeen
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Community Reviews
(showing 1-30)
Do I get to mark my own book as "read" now? I've been reading it on and off since 2013. I think it's done. I think it's yours now, world.
May 12, 2017
Sarah
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
r2r-read,
netgalley-edelweiss,
young-adult,
glbt,
death,
contemporary,
magical-realism,
read-2017
(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
This was a YA magical realism story about a girl who was an artist, but had a bit of a creative block.
Mercedes was an okay character although she seemed to lack focus a bit when it came to her art, so it was good for her when Lilia turned up to help her.
The s ...more
“The estate guides us to fulfil its needs,” Lilia says, “with art and music, structure and form, color and light. But it knows what you need, too.”
This was a YA magical realism story about a girl who was an artist, but had a bit of a creative block.
Mercedes was an okay character although she seemed to lack focus a bit when it came to her art, so it was good for her when Lilia turned up to help her.
The s ...more
May 08, 2017
✨ jamieson ✨
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
anticipated-2017,
lgbt
me, realising this is a cute book about a artist girl possibly getting herself a cute gf
im in for my wlw girls
im in for my wlw girls
May 30, 2017
Cait • A Page with a View
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2017-arcs
3.5 stars. I really wasn't expecting the magical realism in this, so that was a fun surprise! And the stuff with the Estate was rather odd at first, but totally worked in the end.
Mercedes is a bisexual teen who's trying to figure out the different relationships in her life and create new art (mostly about salmonella). She's in love with her best friend, but everything in her world is kind of stuck while her abuela stays in a coma after a stroke. The book description actually sums things up real ...more
Mercedes is a bisexual teen who's trying to figure out the different relationships in her life and create new art (mostly about salmonella). She's in love with her best friend, but everything in her world is kind of stuck while her abuela stays in a coma after a stroke. The book description actually sums things up real ...more
Gallery of Unfinished Girls was an intensely beautiful magical realism story: not at all what I expected, but somehow everything I needed. Karcz manages to pull together themes about growing up, moving on, and being an artist into the same book. And it works perfectly. The message of the book develops over time and the writing builds.
Don't expect a romance here; this is more of a coming-of-age story. Honestly, the lack of romance was probably my least favorite part. I know that sounds ridiculou ...more
Don't expect a romance here; this is more of a coming-of-age story. Honestly, the lack of romance was probably my least favorite part. I know that sounds ridiculou ...more
I didn't mean to read this book. At least, not yet. But it sucked me in and refused to let go.
When Lauren sent it to me, it was just for the purpose of glancing through it to suggest a new title. I definitely wanted to read it at a future time, but I had a dozen things to do that evening, and really could only spare under an hour to glance through, get a sense of the language, and suggest some titles.
Hours later, the dozens of things I planned to do weren't done, and I was turning the final page ...more
When Lauren sent it to me, it was just for the purpose of glancing through it to suggest a new title. I definitely wanted to read it at a future time, but I had a dozen things to do that evening, and really could only spare under an hour to glance through, get a sense of the language, and suggest some titles.
Hours later, the dozens of things I planned to do weren't done, and I was turning the final page ...more
What a beautiful book.
Mercedes Moreno is having a tough time. Her abuela is in the hospital, she can’t figure out what to paint for the county show, and there’s a piano in her yard. Pile on top of that the college responses she’s waiting for and the fact that her best friend Victoria—the best friend who could possibly, in a perfect world, love her back—is set on leaving Florida for New York, and everything seems like it’s on a downward spiral.
Until, that is, she finds that perfect world in a mys ...more
Mercedes Moreno is having a tough time. Her abuela is in the hospital, she can’t figure out what to paint for the county show, and there’s a piano in her yard. Pile on top of that the college responses she’s waiting for and the fact that her best friend Victoria—the best friend who could possibly, in a perfect world, love her back—is set on leaving Florida for New York, and everything seems like it’s on a downward spiral.
Until, that is, she finds that perfect world in a mys ...more
4.5 stars! *-*
Longer RTC after business trip.
Longer RTC after business trip.
This book was so freaking beautiful, I found myself anxiously awaiting what deceptively simple but impactful phrasing would be used next. I loved its meditations on creativity and the ways it can both intertwine with and inhibit personal growth, and the sister relationship was so sweet. (And yay for A+ bi rep!) Very excited to see what this author does next.
Jul 10, 2017
Shelly
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary,
diverse,
stand-alone,
harper,
lgbtqia,
recommend,
magic-realism,
coming-of-age
I really liked this one. I didn't expect it to be magic realism but I was pleasantly surprised with that element. I'm a huge fan of contemporary-feeling novels that have a hint of magic in them and this was obviously no exception. The writing was spectacular and really immersive and I can't wait to see what's next from this debut author. If you're looking for a novel with a deeply immersive world and compelling/fleshed-out characters, I really recommend this one.
4.5 but rounding up because I have been waiting for a book like this for SO LONG and it was just as wonderful as I had hoped.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy via Edelweiss for review purposes.
This was such an impressive, beautiful debut. Karcz has a lovely, magical prose. And kudos to delightful and caring sister stories! Full review to come.
This was such an impressive, beautiful debut. Karcz has a lovely, magical prose. And kudos to delightful and caring sister stories! Full review to come.
This book was just the loveliest thing and I hope to see more contemporaries like it.
Mercedes Moreno is struggling not only with her art, but with her feelings for her best friend Victoria and the possibility of her grandmother's death after a debilitating stroke. The Gallery of Unfinished Girls seamlessly weaves together themes of the struggle to create, growing up, family, and the pangs of first love in a graceful, vivid writing style and with multi-faceted dynamic characters. This book is jus ...more
Mercedes Moreno is struggling not only with her art, but with her feelings for her best friend Victoria and the possibility of her grandmother's death after a debilitating stroke. The Gallery of Unfinished Girls seamlessly weaves together themes of the struggle to create, growing up, family, and the pangs of first love in a graceful, vivid writing style and with multi-faceted dynamic characters. This book is jus ...more
ARC Review (5/14/17, received from Sarah Prineas)
It's hard to talk about this debut without spoiling it, but it's also difficult to explain exactly what this is about. The Gallery of Unfinished Girls is about a high school senior struggling to express herself creatively and battling feelings for her best friend that she feels are unrequited, all while a new next door neighbor (literally, since our narrator lives in a duplex) invites her to go to a magical apartment building where she can be her ...more
It's hard to talk about this debut without spoiling it, but it's also difficult to explain exactly what this is about. The Gallery of Unfinished Girls is about a high school senior struggling to express herself creatively and battling feelings for her best friend that she feels are unrequited, all while a new next door neighbor (literally, since our narrator lives in a duplex) invites her to go to a magical apartment building where she can be her ...more
Fortunate enough to score an ARC of The Gallery of Unfinished Girls, I sat down to read a few pages, and ended up reading half of it in one sitting. The story grasps you immediately. Karcz jumps right into the meat of the plot and there's no looking back. Full of magic and creativity and (a personal favorite) family relationships, this book was one of the best I read all year!
Quirky book about life of a teenage artist looking for inspiration and moving on to the next phase of her life after high school. Loved the characters and the magic realism that you don't find very often (for me at least).
This was such a wonderful read. ❤ Every character was thought out so carefully and written so well, I thought I could peel them from the pages!
...more
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Lauren Karcz is a fan of books, dogs, long sentences, Broadway shows, adverbs, and wandering art museums. She's a professional language nerd, having worked as an ESL teacher, a language test developer, and now as a writer. Lauren lives with her family in Atlanta.
THE GALLERY OF UNFINISHED GIRLS is Lauren's debut novel, and a Junior Library Guild selection. It releases from HarperTeen / HarperColli ...more
More about Lauren Karcz...
THE GALLERY OF UNFINISHED GIRLS is Lauren's debut novel, and a Junior Library Guild selection. It releases from HarperTeen / HarperColli ...more
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