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Summary
Summary
Eighteen-year-old waitress Indigo Skye's life is upended when a mysterious man leaves her a multi-million-dollar tip in this funny and moving novel by Printz Honor medal winner and National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti.
I suddenly see where I'm standing, and that's at the edge of change--really, really big change.
Eighteen-year-old Indigo Skye feels like she has it all--a waitress job she loves, an adorable refrigerator-delivery-guy boyfriend, and a home life that's slightly overwhelming but rich in love. Until a mysterious man at the restaurant leaves her a 2.5 million-dollar tip, and her life as she knew it is transformed.
At first it's amazing: a hot new car, enormous flat-screen TV, and presents for everyone she cares about. She laughs off the warnings that money changes people, that they come to rely on what they have instead of who they are . Because it won't happen...not to her. Or will it? What do you do when you can buy anything your heart desires--but what your heart desires can't be bought?
This is the story of a girl who gets rich, gets lost, and ultimately finds her way back--if not to where she started, then to where she can start again.
Author Notes
Deb Caletti is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of over sixteen books for adults and young adults, including Honey, Baby, Sweetheart , a finalist for the National Book Award; A Heart in a Body in the World , a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; Girl, Unframed ; and One Great Lie . Her books have also won the Josette Frank Award for Fiction, the Washington State Book Award, and numerous other state awards and honors, and she was a finalist for the PEN USA Award. She lives with her family in Seattle.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Eighteen-year old Indigo Skye is a free-spirited Seattle teen, happily coasting toward graduation. She loves her quirky family, her hunky boyfriend, and her job waiting tables at a small cafe. Then a mysterious customer leaves her a $2.5 million tip. Deciding that she can't keep the money, she follows her benefactor to Maui, where her father also lives. But Richard Howards, a search engine entrepreneur seeking a clean start, insists that she keep the money. "The money is not a burden," Indigo decides in a characteristic moment of soul-searching. "It is the end of all burdens." So she returns to Seattle, newly wealthy, only to learn that money changes everything-and not necessarily for the better. She escapes to Malibu with a pal, where she must decide if she can ever feel at home with the rich and famous. Deb Caletti's early descriptions of Indigo's stratified Seattle neighborhood, with its haves and have-nots, nicely set up the protagonist's attitude toward wealth. The novel's (Simon Pulse, 2008) first half is overly long, but once Indigo receives the money, the pacing and humor really pick up. Ellen Grafton's earnest, effusive reading is a winning match for Indigo's happy-go-lucky disposition. Her depiction of various male characters is less convincing, even corny at times, but luckily most of the story takes place in Indigo's voice. A sprinkling of strong language aside, this is a refreshing modern fable.-Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The old saying "Money can't buy happiness" proves true for high school senior Indigo Skye after she receives a $2.5 million tip from a handsome stranger at the suburban Seattle restaurant where she is a part-time waitress. Before long, the pressure is on from friends and family to spend (or not spend) her money a certain way. Although the lesson of this rags-to-riches tale is evident from the beginning, Caletti (Honey, Baby, Sweetheart) builds characters with so much depth that readers will be invested in her story. Indigo's ability to recognize and appreciate what makes other people tick makes her an unusually compelling narrator, even when her values get blown off course. The rest of the cast, all of whom harbor conflicts and aspirations of their own, radiate personality, especially the crew of customers who regularly patronize Indigo's restaurant (they include a man accused of murdering his wife, a heavily tattooed factory worker and a Native American poet with a chemical imbalance). Working from a premise that strains credibility, Caletti spins a network of relationships that feels real and enriching. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(High School) Eighteen-year-old Indigo has a job she loves (she's a waitress), a super-nice boyfriend (nice muscles, too), and a comfortable, happy home life (sister, brother, single mom). She's got a good head on her shoulders and a healthy dislike of the extreme wealth she witnesses in her Seattle suburb, but when a grateful cafÄ patron leaves Indigo two and a half million dollars as a tip, she discovers that money really does change everything -- and everyone. With the help of her level-headed mom and her nature-loving hippie dad (who lives on the beach in Maui), she eventually finds her way back to the people and the life she loves. Indigo's first-person narration is filled with clever detail, sharp wit, and madcap scenes (such as the one involving her mom, a freaked-out cat, a car, and a cop). While some may find her chatter overwhelming, others will be enthralled by Indigo's personality, her way with words, and how she turns her misfortune back into good fortune. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Money is bad. That polemic resides at the heart of Caletti's latest and overwhelms almost everything else. Eighteen-year-old Indigo Skye is a devoted waitress with no further aspirations and a too-mature voice that sometimes contradicts her stated lack of worldly experience; discourses on topics such as shopping for fulfillment and "airport time" sadly sound like adult intrusions (although they make for delightful reading). When Indigo receives a 2.5-million dollar tip, she turns into a spoiled brat who spends wildly, accuses her long-standing boyfriend of wanting nothing but her money and turns her back on the motley crew of diner patrons who are her extended family. Ultimately, Indigo learns to be rich and responsible (after a fling with the darker side of wealth), ensuring that readers are left with a clear sense of the moral rocks beneath the novel's ground. Despite myriad flaws, Caletti's fans will doubtless embrace this, even if the story is swallowed by the message with a capital M. (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
What would you do if you were to come into two and a half million dollars unexpectedly? That's the question facing Indigo Skye, a high-school senior whose life has consisted primarily of spending time with her boyfriend, navigating her family (Dad has left the family to sell surfboards in Hawaii), and working mornings at Carrera's restaurant in Seattle. Indigo can tell what people are like by what they eat for breakfast, especially the regulars. But when a well-dressed stranger on an orange Vespa comes in and orders only a cup of coffee, Indigo finds him hard to figure out even after he becomes a semiregular. After the stranger gives her a fortune, Indigo's search for answers takes her to Hawaii to confront her benefactor and also to ritzy Hollywood suburbs, where she learns that being rich is not all it is cracked up to be. Caletti's coming-of-age story with an infinitely likeable heroine and richly limned supporting characters makes a fine counterpoint to the ubiquitous rich-girl series books.--Williams, Bina Copyright 2008 Booklist