Detour Ahead

by Pamela Ehrenberg, Tracy Lopez

In alternating chapters of prose and verse, this dual-POV contemporary middle-grade novel depicts the friendship between Gilah, a neurodiverse Jewish girl preparing for her bat mitzvah, and Guillermo, a Salvadoran-American boy who is new to Washington, D.C. Riding the bus together every day, Gilah and Guillermo learn to navigate life's detours.

Genres: Middle Grade, Jewish

Paperback

Published March 23, 2022

Reviews

[In The Loop About Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I was not able to read through the whole book; it was so long and drawn out that I couldn’t finish it. All the points I’ll make in this review are based on my observations alone.

2/5 ⭐⭐ Missed Opportunity

Detour Ahead is about 12-year-old Gilah, who is autistic and preparing for her bat mitzvah. On the first day of school, her bus drives by a bicyclist who falls, and Gilah tells the bus driver to stop the bus. That's how she meets Guillermo, who is a poet, and the biker in question. The two became friends and started riding the bus together. Initially, I was intrigued to see how Gilah's beliefs impacted the story. Unfortunately, this book was another disappointment. Let's go over the pros, cons, and autistic representation.

Pros: Typically, I like having a positive outlook on the books I read, even if I don't like them that much. But for this book, I didn't like anything about it. Sure, it was nice learning more about Jewish and Spanish culture, but they overshadow other aspects of the story, which brings me to my problems with this book.

Cons: There were a lot of things that bothered me about this book. First of all, the story is so boring! It doesn't help that the characters, especially Gilah, are underdeveloped. Aside from Gilah being autistic, Jewish, and loving to breakdance, we don't know much about her. The same can also be said for Guillermo; his whole personality was that he was a poet and that he was Salvadoran. That's it. Also, the book spends a lot of time info-dumping on Spanish and Jewish culture, but not enough time on the story and character development. There is little to no character growth in this book. The last point I'll bring up is the story's pacing. Some sections of this book drag on for way too long, like Gilah's bat mitzvah. The book had the entire ceremony; yes, that includes the speech and what happens afterward. It didn't add anything new to the story and only made it drag on longer. There were a lot of other issues I had with the narrative, but my main complaint lies with the autistic representation.

The Representation: As an autistic person, I was curious to see how both of Gilah’s identities would be integrated into the story. But the authors dropped the ball. It seems like the story was so hyper-fixated on Gilah's Jewish identity that it doesn't focus on any other aspects of her character, not even her autism. Because of this, Gilah was bland, and nothing about her personality stood out. Additionally, there was a major inconsistency with how Gilah's autism is portrayed. She's shown many times in the story that she has a harder time reading social cues. (I.E., she has difficulty reading facial expressions, and she takes idioms literally.) However, she knew that one of the characters in the story, Noam, wasn't her friend despite both of their moms saying otherwise. If Gilah had a harder time reading facial expressions, wouldn't she also have a harder time knowing what a true friend is, especially considering she didn't have one before she met Guillermo? Speaking of Gilah's autism, it was heavily implied in the story that she's autistic. However, they never explicitly mention this anywhere in the book. The problem with this is that it forces the non-autistic or allistic reader to focus on Gilah's idiosyncrasies rather than who she is as a person. In other words, it makes readers unfamiliar with autism wonder, "What's wrong with Gilah?" when there's nothing wrong with her. What is wrong, though, is that the story does not mention Gilah's autism or how it impacts her beliefs. The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family, by Sarah Kapit, is not only a more entertaining story, but it's also a much better autistic portrayal. Lara and Caroline's Jewish identities are naturally woven into the story, yet it doesn't feel like it outshines their autism. It also showcases how autism is a spectrum with Caroline using her tablet to communicate, while Lara not needing to. Most importantly, Lara and Caroline's autism was explicitly mentioned in the story, and it didn't feel like it was a big deal. But why was The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family a more meaningful portrayal than Detour Ahead? Oh yeah, it's because the author, Sarah Kapit, is autistic and Jewish herself. She also did a lot of research on augmentative alternative communication (AAC) and even hired an AAC user as a sensitivity reader. However, with this book, they consulted with everyone else but autistic people. (One of the authors, Pamela Ehrenberg, has Nonverbal Learning Disorder, or NLD, but she has not publicly announced that she's autistic.) And it shows via the writing. Let's move on to the conclusion, shall we?

Conclusion: Overall, Detour Ahead was a disappointment. The story was boring, the pacing was painfully slow, the characters lacked personality, and it was just a major letdown. If you want to see a story of a Jewish girl navigating life on the spectrum, this story is not for you. The sad thing is that the story had so much potential to be compelling, you don't see many autistic and Jewish characters in literature. But the authors flushed that potential down the toilet.
Thank you for reading, and God bless!

[Lisa Bernstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is told alternating between Gilah, a girl with Autism who is preparing for Bat Mitzvah, and Guillermo, a boy her age whose perspective is done in verse. Gilah's narration describes how she navigates her world according to rules she has learned for different situations and circumstances, and how she sometimes has to decide between competing "rules". Guillermo hides his poetry-writing and broken bicycle from his family who are focused on financial concerns. While every person with Autism is different, I wonder if a young person with Autism might relate to Gilah, and if young people who are neurotypical might gain empathy for neurodivergent peers from reading this book. I thought the authors did a fantastic job with this book. I would say that Gilah's older brother was written a little too good to be true--never expressing frustration with Gilah, always coming up with ways to help her. Beyond that, I thought it was great!

[Deke Moulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book! I love the mix of regular narration with novel inverse, especially as it was two different perspectives!

Mostly disappointed that this is only printed through PJ. Our way, so that only subscribers to the program will be able to read it.

I loved the Neurodiversity character, which gave me Sarah Kapit vibes - all in the best way! Although the more I read about Neurodiversity characters, the more I see myself in the mode of thinking. Which is a different “doors and mirrors” result of reading.

Probably the only difficult part of this book is that a character loves to breakdance, and after that one, Australian lady really messed up breakdown in the Olympics, it has been really hard for me to think about breakdancing without picturing her. Completely unrelated, but at least Gilah was able to do a backflip!

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilah’s thoughtful internal monologue will touch readers’ hearts and expand their understanding of someone who must work hard to interpret social cues. Her friend Guillermo is a poet, who writes his story in verse. Their alternating voices share a beautiful story of friendship which begins on a Metrobus in Washington, DC. Detour Ahead is a gem of a novel.

[Aisha Saeed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved loved this book so much! There is so much heart, humor and sweetness. The combination of prose and verse and alternating voices will keep all young readers engaged.

[Talia Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was soooo good. I love the way the author switched the perspectives back and forth because it allowed me to see the lives of both Gilah and Guillermo.

[bjneary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story of the friendship between Jewish Gilah who is neurodiverse & Guillermo who has just moved to Washington, D.C. who becomes friends with Gilah as they navigate life, family & friendship in Washington, D.C. in this awesome middle grade novel in verse. A must read!