As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
(2)
YA
Max Friedman is continually taunted by his dead mother's tumor, which he believes is inside his brian. After transferring to an arts school, he participates with five new eccentric friends in the school's Gothic/steampunk production of Hamlet. This compounds Max's growing existential crisis until he's forced to finally confront his loss and grief. Pixley's poetic prose is full of raw emotions, vivid imagery, and a touch of morbid humor.