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A review by jackiehorne
Sam & Ilsa's Last Hurrah by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
3.0
Seniors in high school, twins Ilsa and Sam are holding their "last hurrah" dinner party at their grandmother's swanky NYC apartment. Each gets to invite three people; neither tells the other who those people are. The mix of dinner-goers is diverse, quirky, and emotionally difficult (each sibling invites the other's ex), and lots of issues which the siblings have each been bottling up inside come to the fore. Both Ilsa and Sam end the evening with their issues somewhat resolved, each ready to take that difficult step from high school into "adult" life beyond.
I can see why a lot of folks might not find this appealing; the Manhattanite teen is a specific breed, and comes off as pretentious, overly knowing, and super-privileged to many readers. I enjoyed Sam and Ilsa and their multicultural cast of friends, but didn't enjoy their night together nearly as much as I enjoyed Nick and Norah's. And the 10-years-later epilogue did not work at all for me; totally unnecessary for a YA, in my opinion.
I can see why a lot of folks might not find this appealing; the Manhattanite teen is a specific breed, and comes off as pretentious, overly knowing, and super-privileged to many readers. I enjoyed Sam and Ilsa and their multicultural cast of friends, but didn't enjoy their night together nearly as much as I enjoyed Nick and Norah's. And the 10-years-later epilogue did not work at all for me; totally unnecessary for a YA, in my opinion.