Isabel Kaplan Reviews

Isabel Kaplan

PRAISE FOR
Hancock Park
A Novel

Publishers Weekly
Set in Los Angeles, teenage author Kaplan's debut details 16-year-old Becky's struggles with her parents' divorce and her social life after her best friend moves to New York. Readers (and Becky) learn of her intelligence when she takes an IQ test and has high results, but little in her observations and narrative suggest a genius to accompany that score (her involvement in the Model UN at all-girl's academy feels forced). Her desire to be popular fluctuates between her scorn for the Trinity, the popular girls in her junior class, and her joy at hanging out with them ("I had gone out with an extremely attractive, very popular boy, and I was friends with the most popular girls in school. Life was good"). Slowly, Becky makes some positive changes-she switches from a prescription-happy psychiatrist to a more effectual one, and realizes her new boyfriend is a jerk. Her problems will resonate with and be familiar to readers, though her personal growth feels rushed and does not build in a realistic way. Ages 14-up.
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School Library Journal
Grade 8–11—In this debut novel, Kaplan has created a teenager who actually talks, thinks, and acts like one. Angeleno Becky Miller, 16, like most of her friends, has parents in "the business": Mom has a talk show and Dad is an entertainment attorney. Although both of them have good intentions and love their children, they have little time to interact with them on a daily basis. Becky and her younger brother pretty much manage their own lives. The stress of this lifestyle really affects her, and she shows signs of OCD and severe anxiety, which heavy medication only partially relieves. Becky knows that she needs to keep her life together while everything else, including her parents' marriage, is falling apart, but it's tough when you don't have much control over such matters. This pivotal semester is a true test of her character and endurance, and as she stumbles through, readers will relate to her difficulties and cheer for her successes.

Kaplan is an author to watch.