Signal to Noise
{4.5/5} “Sebastian shook his head. Even when Meche was trying to apologize in her own Meche-way, she had a way of insulting you once again. And yet, looking down at the girl with her oversized green jacket, the sleeves covering her fingers, the collar of her shirt sticking out at an odd angle, he thought she was the only person who ever got him.”
Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, published in 2015
When the class bully trips and falls exactly the way Meche imagined it, she begins to suspect that magic might be real. She was listening to music when she imagined him falling, so she thinks music might be part of it. Meche decides it’s time to experiment, with her friends Sebastian and Daniela of course. Their first attempt fails, but when they refine their technique they are successful.
The one storyline takes place in 1988, and the other in 2009 when Meche returns to Mexico for her father’s funeral.
It’s about being an uncool teenager, having a friend who is sometimes difficult, and finding out that magic works — sometimes.
The general trajectory of the story isn’t surprising, but the details are terrific.
This is the 1st book I’ve read by Moreno-Garcia.