bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

John Millen

Are We There Yet?
By David Levithan
Published by HaperCollins
ISBN 978 0 00 719140 6
Danny Silver, 23, is an  upwardly mobile New York business man with success written all over him. He is a rising star in the advertising world, smart, talented and driven to succeed at almost any cost.
Danny's workaholic lifestyle singles him out as a loner, but that's  business. He lives life on the edge  and he likes it. Danny's  headed for the top, and he doesn't care what it takes to get there.
Danny's younger brother, Elijah, is a soon-to-be high school senior. He looks on  life as something not to be taken too seriously. There will be time for seriousness  much, much later. Elijah enjoys chilling out and taking things as they come.
Will he become like Danny as he grows up? Elijah thinks not. He looks on his brother's focussed life as something to  avoid at all costs.
Danny and Elijah used to get on brilliantly, but  they have grown so far apart  in recent years,  they can hardly  stand the sight of each other. Elijah used to look up to his elder brother, but now he can't stand to be in the same room as him.
Neither brother is willing to  try to understand  how and why the other's life has changed, much to the distress of their parents.
The two brothers are worlds apart and nothing can bring them back together. Mr and Mrs Silver look on their two sons with pride and frustration: both boys are great  sons in their own right, but get them together and the atmosphere is an explosion waiting to happen.
Mr and Mrs Silver decide to do something. They trick their testy sons into taking a trip together to Italy.
What better way to repair their damaged relationship than get them to spend time together in a country as beautiful and seductive as Italy? Animosity and dislike will be forgotten as the two brothers rediscover their closeness as well as the magic of Italy.
Desperate times call for desperate measures -  the Silvers are  out of ideas as to how to get their sons back on speaking terms and this drastic step seems to be the only answer.
To please their parents, Danny and Elijah agree to  the trip.  It's a risky idea that is likely to end  in complete disaster.
It doesn't seem possible that travelling thousands of miles to a foreign country will bring the two brothers together.
Will the tenuous bond between the two brothers be broken for ever by the interference of their parents? Time will tell.
David Levithan's Are We There Yet? is a beautifully written and cleverly observed story about growing up and growing apart.  It is  packed with as much suspense and tension as any first-rate adventure thriller.
Here is a novel about real people in a real situation.  It  packs a level of interest and a freshness lacking in so many young-adult books around at the moment.
John Millen can be contacted on MillenBookshelf@aol.com



A tale of two brothers and their adventures in Europe