Publishers Weekly
★ 10/23/2023
High school seniors and best friends Belén and Leti, the daughters of working-class Mexican immigrants, live in Oakland, Calif. Tenacious and hardworking Leti dreams of attending UC Berkeley, but when she finds out she’s pregnant by her secret boyfriend Quentin, things get complicated. Leti fears the reaction of her racist parents, who don’t know that she’s dating a Black classmate. Belén, meanwhile, must navigate an unstable home life after her father abandons the family, leaving them in a precarious financial situation, while also contending with the fact that she might fail out of high school. As Leti and Belén confront their daunting circumstances, Belén reckons with the knowledge that “I know it isn’t even all my fault—but somehow, it’s all my responsibility to fix it,” in this stirring novel about dysfunctional family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, and toxic parenting. Itxa steadfastly approaches sensitive topics such as abuse, anxiety, depression, teen pregnancy, racism, and sex work via compassionately wrought prose. Belén and Leti’s affectionate friendship provides levity to the high-stress situations, and a charismatic supporting cast and sharp dialogue propel this unforgettable debut. Ages 14–up. Agent: Elizabeth Bewley, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
The warmth and realness of Carolina Ixta’s heartfelt debut Shut Up, This Is Serious is palatable. With each passing page, I drifted away into these visceral descriptions of Oakland girlhood. I love these complicated, smart, and funny characters. I feel like I need a bumper sticker: Belén and Leti are my homegirls! That way, I can sing this book’s praises wherever I roam." — Kali Fajardo-Anstine, bestselling author of Woman of Light and Sabrina & Corina
“Carolina Ixta is a master storyteller, weaving a visceral, soul-searing debut. Shut Up, This Is Serious shows the depth of best friendship, the heartbreak of being abandoned by a parent, and the powerful revelations of a teenage girl as she navigates relationships, sex, and her mental health. This book will grab you and refuse to let go, and by the end you will have fallen in love with the beautiful, lyrical prose, the un-put-downable plot, and most of all, Belén herself.” — Raquel Vasquez Gilliland, Pura Belpré Award-winning author of How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe
"Shut Up, This Is Serious accomplishes an impressive feat in its brilliant display of a young girl's complicated life with language that startles and stuns, daring to trust you with the lush interiority of a teenage girl's contention with sex, race, and family. This novel is an unabashedly funny and honest depiction of Oakland, girlhood, and friendship that doesn't hesitate in its piercing accuracy while upholding the beauty and awkwardness of the world these characters inhabit." — Leila Mottley, New York Times bestselling author of Nightcrawling
"Despite the book’s exploration of painful subjects, Belén’s strong, tell-it-like-it-is voice and wry humor don’t court readers’ pity. The novel treats issues of misogyny, domestic violence, and racism as realities to be dealt with, not character-defining moments of transformation, and the story’s tension is rooted in the question of whether Belén and Leti will break free from cycles of generational trauma and forge their own futures. This addictively readable novel is a loving portrait of growing up Mexican American and female in Oakland. A stunning debut from a powerful new voice." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"[A] stirring novel about dysfunctional family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, and toxic parenting. Itxa steadfastly approaches sensitive topics such as abuse, anxiety, depression, teen pregnancy, racism, and sex work via compassionately wrought prose. Belén and Leti’s affectionate friendship provides levity to the high-stress situations, and a charismatic supporting cast and sharp dialogue propel this unforgettable debut." — Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Ixta’s debut will leave many shedding tears over this emotionally captivating tale about a tough, first-generation Mexican American who does her best to navigate life." — Booklist, starred review
"This realistic novel lays bare the ways in which some of the most harmful damage a young girl can experience happens in the home. Belén witnesses the infidelity of her father and that of Leti’s father, as well as the abuse visited upon Leti’s body. Belén, the observant one, is belittled and treated with contempt for the behavior of the father. Yet she can still love deeply and begin the act of forgiving and healing. Readers will be inspired by Belén’s path to healing but not before it makes them ugly cry." — SLJ, starred review
"The protagonist’s strong narrative voice, the realistic emotional tone, and thematic touchstones will hook fans of Sánchez’s I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter." — Horn Book Magazine
"Wonderful, funny, powerful, and compulsively readable, this book about two teenage girls growing up in Oakland is a great read for teens and adults alike. Friendship, family, and chosen family are at the core of this book, and I loved every moment of it." — Jasmine Guillory, on TODAY.com
"One of the best YA books ever." — Ernesto Cisneros, award-winning author of Efrén Divided and Falling Short
“In her debut novel, both wry and raw, Oakland author Carolina Ixta explores the complicated lives of two Latina friends.” — San Francisco Chronicle
School Library Journal
★ 01/01/2024
Gr 9 Up—This novel explores the coming-of-age of two Latina girls during their senior year of high school in East Oakland. Both Leti and Belén navigate a terrain that is saturated in casual racism, belittlement, sexism, and daily toxicity, but for Belén, all of these plus her father's abandonment have sent her into an emotional tailspin. As related by Belén, everyone else's lives and upheavals function as distraction from the heaviness of her own depression. Ixta explores the shortcomings of underfunded public education and a higher education system that wants trauma porn to inform student applications. For Leti's college essay, she must divulge her teen pregnancy. But Ixta upends the notion that teen girls who get pregnant have thrown away their futures. Readers see that Leti, for all of her shrinking self-consciousness, is a fighter. This realistic novel lays bare the ways in which some of the most harmful damage a young girl can experience happens in the home. Belén witnesses the infidelity of her father and that of Leti's father, as well as the abuse visited upon Leti's body. Belén, the observant one, is belittled and treated with contempt for the behavior of the father. Yet she can still love deeply and begin the act of forgiving and healing. This novel explores the effects of family strife, the behaviors children learn from their own parents, and what catalysts spark their evolution and journey away from those damaging situations. VERDICT Readers will be inspired by Belén's path to healing but not before it makes them ugly cry.—Stephanie Creamer
FEBRUARY 2024 - AudioFile
Frankie Corzo narrates this contemporary YA audiobook with sensitivity and verve. Ever since her father left the family, Belén feels like she's been sleepwalking through life. She cuts classes, fails tests, and can't seem to make herself care about anything other than finding a boyfriend and helping her best friend, Leti, deal with an unexpected pregnancy. Corzo skillfully portrays Belén's teenaged disaffection, showing clear signs of the depression and anxiety it masks. She expertly adjusts her tone throughout the story to reveal the emotional complexity of Belén's journey to self-acceptance and healing. Corzo uses a subtly higher and more childlike voice to portray Leti, which is consistent with her strict upbringing and struggles to break free of her parents' control. N.M. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-10-21
When everyone tells you who you are, how can you figure out who you want to be?
Ever since Belén’s pa left, nothing’s been the same. Her depressed ma is hardly home, and all older sister Ava does is berate Belén and accuse her of being just like their father. In danger of flunking out of high school, Belén fears Ava is right about her. With her best friend, Leti, pregnant and going through serious family problems of her own, Belén seeks solace in a questionable relationship with a college student. And when she sees her father at a restaurant with a much younger woman, but he doesn’t acknowledge her (“his eyes remain flat. Lifeless. Like he is looking at a stranger”), the tenuous hold she had on herself slips. Everyone, it seems, abandons her; will Belén also give up on herself? Despite the book’s exploration of painful subjects, Belén’s strong, tell-it-like-it-is voice and wry humor don’t court readers’ pity. The novel treats issues of misogyny, domestic violence, and racism as realities to be dealt with, not character-defining moments of transformation, and the story’s tension is rooted in the question of whether Belén and Leti will break free from cycles of generational trauma and forge their own futures. This addictively readable novel is a loving portrait of growing up Mexican American and female in Oakland.
A stunning debut from a powerful new voice. (Fiction. 14-18)
