25. Retro

Retro. Sofia Lapuente and Jarrod Shusterman. 2023. [January] 400 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: You don't know me yet. But here I stand, soaked in mud, blood stained across my diamond disco dress--and I'm not even sure where I am. My heart is splintered glass inside my chest. Un corazon roto. How I arrived is a story too twisted to believe. So let me center myself and take in my surroundings.

Premise/plot: Retro, a YA contemporary thriller, has a framework. Luna, the protagonist, is being held hostage. Readers know from the start that danger, danger, and more danger are ahead in the pages. The narrative mainly unfolds chronologically--with a few flashes to the "present" hostage situation. It begins with three girls having fun. (The first chapter is titled "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"). Luna, Samantha, and Mimi shopping together at the mall...when Mimi leaves the two of them together...trouble happens. Samantha asks Luna to hold her bag for her. What she doesn't know--Luna doesn't know--is that Samantha has spent the morning shoplifting at that store. Luna is caught red-handed. Samantha stays silent. Not just silent at the store with the clerks and cops and whatnot. But silent with her mom. Luna is ANGRY. She's determined to rid herself of any and all reminders of their long years of friendship. While she's going through her phone deleting pictures, she stumbles across a video of a drunk Samantha ranting and raving. Samantha is dishing out the dirt, if you will, and speaking freely about all of her classmates and so-called friends. Luna posts this video anonymously to a social media site--Limbo--and sends the link to Mimi. Not a full day goes by--perhaps half a day--when Luna begins to have doubts about what she's done. She deletes the video and/or removes it from the site. But what she didn't count on was the video going VIRAL before she removes it. I'm not sure if it's been shared or uploaded or re-uploaded or ???? but the video is EVERYWHERE. Samantha is being bullied online and in person. And the bullying is brutal. Luna feels insta-guilt and definite regret. She has to step up and do something...but it never seems enough.

The fallout of this bullying makes up the heart and substance of this thriller. Long story short, LIMBO, the social media site comes to their high school and offers a HUGE scholarship opportunity. They offer a "retro challenge" where contestants must live the full school year without using ANY technology invented after the year 2000. To get a chance for a [great] college scholarship, they'll have to give up life as they know it. Mimi and Luna join the challenge....and a handful of others...whom we'll come to know as the novel unfolds...

My thoughts: I found Retro a super-compelling thriller. While it is somewhat-mostly obvious from the start who the "bad guy" or "villain" is...how everything unfolds is intriguing. I liked the group of friends that come together to do the challenge. These are mostly people who would not have taken the time to get to know each other and hang out IF there was not a challenge. Everyone is learning life-lessons (for the most part) and figuring out who they are, who they want to be, and what they want out of life. There is drama, mystery, and light romance.

One of my favorite things about this one was that each chapter is a song title. Luna and her friends seem to equate "going retro" with listening to cassette tapes and/or mixed tapes. Also for some reason roller skates. (Which I personally found odd, but that's just me???) I suppose the rules could allow for you to pick just one decade to settle into or allow you to pick and choose. The playlist certainly blends from the 90s and 80s. 

I liked the premise of "going retro."

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews