Review Detail

NO PERFECT PLACES by Steven Salvatore is a YA Contemporary novel about loss, grief, rock bottom, and all the lessons learned along the way. The Brucke twins have been through it; their father got arrested for embezzlement, resulting in them losing their home, economic status, and position in the community. They’re barely holding it together when their dad passes away unexpectedly in prison, right after a new secret of his has come to light; he got another woman pregnant, and Olly and Alex have a half-brother, Tyler. As Olly gets close to Tyler, Alex spirals out of control, and all three of them end up fracturing. The question is — will they ever be able to support one another, or are they doomed to repeat their father’s failures?

What stands out about this novel is the characters' POVs. I enjoyed getting to read both Olly’s and Alex’s perspectives because it helped highlight how complex tragedy and heartache are, and how every human deals with it differently. The twins also each have distinctive voices that are compelling in their own right. Olly’s world of steadfastness and film and Khal is such a nice contrast to Alex’s world of numbing activities and cooking and Hunter. Also, even with such heavy circumstances, they’re both so funny and made me smile in so many places.

This story would have been even better with a few pacing tweaks. It’s a tough subject matter, so it makes sense that it’s a slower read. However, there are a lot of moments that loop around and around, which while an accurate reflection of real life, for the book’s purposes, if Salvatore cut out these repetitive elements, the story would’ve had more consistent momentum. It sits at 368 pages right now, but Salvatore could have found a sweet spot with maybe fifty fewer pages. On the other hand, Salvatore does condense the timeline in some moments I actually wanted more buildup, like how Alex goes from hating Hunter, to getting with him, and then hating him again. It happened so fast that I didn’t have time to be impacted by it emotionally, even though I understood it intellectually.

That being said, Salvatore does a great job at taking a complicated subject matter and finding the raw humanity, and lightness, in it. This book is not only a great read, but it could also be a safe space for anyone who knows someone incarcerated, anyone who has been through a scandal, or anyone who feels like they don’t quite fit in.