Book Review of Where The Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

I remember how Something Like Normal got me through several tedious hours during an extended hospital stay. So, when I came across Where The Stars Still Shine, also by Trish Doller, on a list of recommended YA titles that portrayed PTSD well, I knew I had to check it out from my local library. However, I'm not a fan of the cover design, because I feel it doesn't capture the mood or themes of the book at all. I don't know if I'm like other readers of Where The Stars Still Shine, but I spent the entire time desperately wanting to see the inside of that Airstream, so I wish that had been incorporated into the cover concept somehow.


Where The Stars Still Shine opens twelve years after Callie's mom Veronica--a woman clearly not fit to be a custodial parent, who is off her meds for Borderline Personality Disorder--has kidnapped her and raised her on the run, so as to keep Callie away from her father and extended family in Florida. When Veronica is pulled over for driving a stolen car on yet another one of their last-minute moves to flee from yet another one of her scary boyfriends who is inappropriate with Callie (There have been many--hence Callie's PTSD.), Callie finds herself suddenly in the custody of a father she hasn't seen in over a decade, and amidst a huge extended Greek family in a Florida tourist town, not quite knowing where she fits in.

There were many things to like about Where The Stars Still Shine. I particularly enjoyed the contrasts shown between modern Greek-American culture and Greek-themed performances and products meant for tourists. I also appreciated Doller's representation of Callie's PTSD, which was both apt and sensitively done. The awkwardness and difficulty Callie experiences in renegotiating her relationship with her dad upon their reunion feels realistic, and develops both characters well. And her friendship with cousin Kat keeps things lively and interesting. Also, this book features one of the most hilariously-run bookstores I've ever encountered in fiction. (I would love to browse through its cheeky shelf-talkers, maybe even more than browsing for the books themselves!)

One small thing that bothered me--and is so typical in YA--is that Doller gave Callie, a girl who refuses to attend school, and who hasn't been enrolled in years, a deep-seated love of books and reading. Of course, I have nothing against characters who like to read! But, the problem comes in when, like in Callie's case, this trait, which is oft mentioned and shapes a minor sideplot of the story, feels as if it was taken from the author's own life and has been plunked down onto a character for whom it is the most unlikely of fits. In addition to the fact that most kids who enjoy reading wouldn't be totally opposed to attending school, there's the added issue that none of the books mentioned really felt like they had any connection to Callie's character, reflecting things she was trying to work through, or themes from Where The Stars Still Shine itself.

I feel like this happens quite a bit in YA, and it is an example of lazy writing, because authors do it when they don't want to do the work of truly developing a character on the page so, instead of showing readers who that person is, they try to give cultural benchmarks like "girl who would pack books when given five minutes to pack everything she wants to take before a last-minute move," or "angsty better-than-your-pop-music-listening-self teen character who is a fan of the Smiths," or, really, any of hundreds of YA characters who are featured in books set in the past few years and have inexplicable preferences for 80s movies and music, just because that's when their authors were growing up.

Ultimately, though, I found Where The Stars Still Shine to be a quick and enjoyable read--not for the romance plot, but for the family issues, the new hometown struggles, and the bits about Greek-American culture. Also, I enjoyed the setting of Tarpon Springs (which is described fairly accurately in the book, from what I can tell). It felt unique and also homey. I'd recommend this book to fans of Finding Carter and The Face On The Milk Carton.