We’re participating in the Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway Hop, and our review/giveaway for that hop is The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller. A gadfly is any kind of biting fly that annoys domestic animals. It’s also a person who persistently irritates, annoys or provokes others. Hmmm. Sounds like most intelligent, inquiring minds. I do want to alert you that this is not necessarily a YA novel. It has three main characters: a teenage girl, an ex-student and a high school teacher. Because of that, some of the content is very mature and may not be appropriate for younger teens. One reader gets to win an advance readers’ copy (ARC) of this interesting novel!
Iris Dupont is super smart. No one who meets her ever doubts that for a minute. She’s intent on becoming a top journalist. In fact, as far as she’s concerned, she’s already a journalist. She’s just waiting for the rest of the world to recognize that fact. Iris’ best friend as long as she can remember has been Edward R. Murrow. He’s her mentor and they confer regularly on Iris’ progress in reaching her career goals. The fact that Murrow has been deceased for over 40 years doesn’t faze Iris in the least and she doesn’t understand why it worries her parents so much.
Iris’ real-life best friend killed herself and Iris’ parents insisted that Iris go into therapy to not only help her cope with that but to also end her relationship with Murrow, who they and her therapist insist on calling her imaginary friend. The therapist and her parents believe she needs a change of climate, and her dad has received a good job offer, so they’ve decided in their lack of infinite wisdom to move her to Nye, a small town away from Boston.
The second main character in The Year of the Gadfly is Mariana Academy’s new science teacher and former student, Jonah. Jonah, his twin Justin, and Hazel were inseparable when they were students. None of them fit into the mainstream at Mariana, and to some extent they gloried in that distinction. Then Justin died and everything fell apart.
The third main character in The Year of the Gadfly is Lily, an ex-student at Mariana Academy. Iris is staying in Lily’s room and is reading her journal entries from her time as a high school student. Although Lily is currently working in Africa, she is a force who in many ways guides Iris in trying to acclimate to this rarified prep school environment but also figures heavily in Jonah’s memories of his time as a student at Mariana since his twin, Justin had a huge crush on Lily. Like Iris and Jonah, Lily never quite fit into the school around her, partially because she was the headmaster’s daughter but also because she felt she was ostracized as an albino.
Iris, Lily and Jonah are grief-stricken, emotionally starved people just trying to get through life the best way they can. All blame themselves for deaths they could not have prevented no matter what they did or didn’t do at the time. Although Lily has moved on to some extent, Iris and Jonah continue to punish themselves for those deaths, believing they don’t deserve to have happiness when the people who died didn’t have the opportunity for it. It’s pretty much destiny that they should end up in close proximity to each other because they both need to heal and represent each other’s best opportunity for healing.
The Year of the Gadfly shows us the lasting effects of childhood betrayals, long-buried but smoldering secrets, and the sad lasting repercussions of losing someone you love intensely. Above all, it shows what happens if you aren’t able to let go and move on with your life. It’s also a story of hope and redemption, of forgiveness and learning to be alive again. I ran through the entire gamut of emotions while reading this novel, including laughing out loud at some of the things Iris said and did. It is part literary novel and part thriller/mystery. I highly recommend this novel for adults and older teens! And one of you is going to win a copy!
Instead of including quotes and a more thorough synopsis, I’ve decided to use this quirky trailer that’s an excerpt from the novel. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Can’t wait to read it?
The Year of the Gadfly was published on May 8, 2012, so it should be available from your favorite bookseller below. Just click the button to go there to get it.
I’d love to get your comments on The Year of the Gadfly, Jennifer Miller, and/or this review.
If you like this review, please “like” it, +1 it, and share it with your friends!
Our Giveaway:
One lucky reader will win an ARC of The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller!
Once you’ve entered our giveaway, click on the link just below the Rafflecopter form to check out all the other giveaways in this hop!
Giveaway Rules:
1) The deadline for entries is Tuesday night, 6/26/2012, at 11:59pm EDST. No entries after that date/time will be eligible.
2) This giveaway is open to entries with U.S. mailing addresses only because we do not ship books outside of the U.S.
3) You must be at least 15 years old to enter this giveaway.
4) You must use the Rafflecopter form. Even if leaving a comment is part of the giveaway, you must use the form in addition to leaving the comment for the comment to count as an entry.
5) If you already follow PopcornReads on Twitter or Facebook, you must still complete that part of the Rafflecopter form for your follow to count as an entry.
6) If you do not provide a complete mailing address in the Rafflecopter form, your entry will not be eligible. We will use your mailing address to ship your book to you.
7) That’s it – it’s a very easy giveaway, so have fun and best of luck!
If you’ve never used Rafflecopter before to enter a giveaway, here’s a little 45 sec. video on how to do it:
How to Enter Rafflecopter Giveaways from Rafflecopter on Vimeo.
Click here to link to the close to 200 giveaways in the Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway Hop!
Click 
Please Donate if you like our reviews: Our reviewers need more caffeine!
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
This sounds like such a fascinating story. The line in the blurb: “The fact that Murrow has been deceased for over 40 years doesn’t faze Iris in the least…” really sold me.
I started reading this book at the bookstore. Unfortunately, they won’t allow you to take a book home to read even though I promised it would look almost unread (much like some of the books I have purchased there). The writing is amazing, as are the characters. I would love to read the whole book. Your review clinches it. Thank you.
LMAO Irene – that is so funny! I once asked a bookstore owner if I could live there. I thought it was an amazing book too!
A new-to-me book but it sounds fascinating!
Sounds like an interesting book. I would love to see how Iris’s story continues. Thanks for having the giveaway.
This book sounds really interesting. Thanks for the chance to win it!
I think the subject of letting go of past hurts is something we can all relate to. This looks like an interesting read!
My review:
This may come as a surprise to you if, like me, you’re not familiar with the author of THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY, Jennifer Miller. What an excellent book! I’ve written several sentences and deleted them all because the words weren’t adequate to tell you how good this is.
Alternating between a year from 1999 to 2000 and a year from 2012 to 2013, and told from three characters’ perspectives, this book is a mystery about students and faculty at a private school. But it’s a different type of mystery: who are the characters, really? What are their motives, really? What happened to Justin, really?
Although this book is billed as a YA novel, a style that always bores me, Miller uses language and suspense in THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY that appeals to me. It is surely a novel for adults.
My only problem with this book are Miller’s descriptions of two “initiations.” The first happens to Lily. It was so maddening and, I thought, unreal, that I could barely read it. Even after it was over, Lily still insists it was her choice. This small part was too YAish for me.
The second initiation description involves Iris. It almost made me throw the book against the wall until Iris suddenly gets smart.
But these two parts are not enough to make me dislike the book. I’m just hoping one of these days Miller will rewrite those parts.
I’m so glad you liked the book!
I thought the difference in how Lily and Iris responded to their initiations said a lot about who they were and how they approached life. Lily was a far more passive person than Iris, an almost invisible person who was easily manipulated into believing almost anything.
I edited that review so my subject and verb agree. Oh well.
As for your comment, yes, of course. At the same time, though, the students at Mariana school were all quite smart. But I’m looking at this like an adult. That’s one of the reasons I don’t usually like YA novels.
← Previous Comments
{ 1 trackback }