Mary: Hello and welcome back to YA Book Club, where we’re putting on our detective hats and solving a murder mystery. Today we’re talking about Cold by Mariko Tamaki. You might remember Tamaki from YA Book Club in Paradise way back in 2018, where we discussed This One Summer. Mariko Tamaki often writes with her cousin and collaborator Jillian Tamaki, but Cold is a solo venture! I think it’s clear we both love stories about crime, and we’ve enjoyed reading Tamaki in the past, but what made us pick up this book, Emily? 

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!

Emily: Well, I should start by saying this book was given to us by the publisher, so thank you for that. All opinions are our own, and all that stuff. I think this one was pretty much a no-brainer for me. It’s a mystery. It’s got ghosts. And the ghost’s name was Todd! And as you may or may not know, dear readers, Mary has an affinity for the name Todd. 

Mary do you want to tell us a little bit about what this book is about and why you were interested in reading it? 

Mary: I just really, really love the Tamakis, and I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve read from them. Admittedly, I’ve read more of Jillian Tamaki’s work, but Mariko has done some excellent work as well, and I was thrilled to pick up this novel. Plus, I’m a sucker for a whodunnit, and the fact that one of the main characters is the murder victim is extra interesting.

Plus, the cover is very cool, IMO. 

So, Cold follows protagonists Georgia and Todd as they try to figure out what happened to, well, Todd. The two never really interact, as Todd has already died by the beginning of the novel, but Georgia is definitely in the circle of people Todd might have interacted with before his passing. This book is definitely a mystery, but it’s also kind of about Georgia and Todd’s discovery of who they are. Both characters are gay, and while the book doesn’t suuuuper dwell on their sexuality in terms of coming out, it’s definitely plot relevant. 

I’ll say up front that this book really worked for me in a lot of ways! I particularly enjoyed the shifting perspective, which provided some variety and kept things interesting while still being somewhat focused. Sometimes when the POV shifts between a lot of characters, books can feel too big for me, but two was just right.

Emily: I usually enjoy POV shifts, personally. Maybe because I enjoy the shake up, and sometimes being in one person’s head can be a little overwhelming. A lot of this worked for me, and we’ll get to that, but just to start, I do want to say this. When we follow Todd, we’re in the middle of the investigation. Todd is kind of hovering over the detectives the whole time, watching them try to figure out what happened to him. Meanwhile, Georgia is on the outside of this investigation. And for a lot of the story, it was difficult for me to see how her story was connected except for very tangentially. 

On top of Georgia’s story feeling so separate from Todd’s, I found her perspective to be very, very frustrating. I know I texted you about this a lot while we were reading because it bothered me so much. But Georgia’s in this situation where there’s so much she doesn’t understand about what’s going on around her. But instead of questioning literally anything, she’s not bothered. It came off as really self-involved and juvenile to me. For instance, her best friend Carrie used to be best friends with the super popular mean girl at school Shirley. Then, out of nowhere, Carrie ditches Shirley and becomes friends with Georgia. Instead of asking her supposed best friend, “Hey, whatever happened between you and Shirley?” she doesn’t seem concerned in the slightest. Even more frustrating, when she sees Shirley and Carrie clearly fighting at school, Georgia doesn’t wonder why. She doesn’t ask Carrie what she and Shirley were fighting about. She just says (literally) “Good, I’m glad Carrie is mad at Shirley because she’ll stay friends with me.” I just can’t fathom acting like this.

Then there’s her whole situation with her brother Mark. Mark is acting weird. Georgia knows Mark had some sort of relationship with Todd—a boy she knows was murdered—because she remembers seeing Todd at their house. She even finds a suspicious bag of money in Mark’s room. But does she confront Mark about it at any point? No. Again, as a reader, this was really, really frustrating.

Like I said, a lot about this book did work for me, but I had to get this off my chest first before we dive into anything else because it bothered me so, so much. 

Mary: Absolutely—we did talk about this a lot while we were reading (Side note: I love reading things at the same time because we get to chat like this!) and it was incredibly frustrating. I hate being the person to say “this is unrealistic,” but it really is. Why would you not ask your brother why the murder victim was IN YOUR HOUSE? Georgia finds that information out halfway through the book, but just never brings it up. This would be a situation where I would have to seek out Mark and ask him. It would be that important. 

If I wanted to be really generous, I guess we could say that Georgia is feeling uncomfortable about things in her own life and wants to hang on to everything she can. It seems like Georgia didn’t have many friends before Carrie ditched Shirley, and she seems relieved to have a pal, even if Carrie came to her under mysterious circumstances. Still, it is absolutely wild she didn’t question anything, especially since she was kind of doing a little murder investigation of her own!

Emily: Yeah, I just feel like when you are friends with someone, you ask them about their lives, especially about things that are upsetting them. I just felt like for a POV character, Georgia was really inactive and again, I want to stress this, juvenile. And don’t tell me it’s because this is YA, because there’s a difference between acting like a teen and acting like a baby. At points, I was like, “Is Georgia a baby?”

Mary: Right, I agree. Teens are kind of infamous for NOT having boundaries about asking questions, so it’s extra strange she doesn’t ask anything.

I really admire that Tamaki made some things subtle. While Todd’s sexuality was a big part of his story (because he was bullied), Georgia’s doesn’t really come up until she’s literally having sex with a girl. I appreciated that, just letting a gay character be gay and not have it be the center of their story. That being said, I think Tamaki went too subtle on Georgia’s thoughts about her friends or her refusal to ask questions. I needed a little help to understand why she wasn’t being nosier. 

Emily: I agree, and I also liked that some things were subtle. There was a moment early in the book where Carrie gives Georgia her gum, and I was like, “Okay, well this is clearly a gay moment,” but they didn’t make a big deal out of it. It just subtly set up some sexual tension that pays off later.

We haven’t mentioned this yet, and I figured this would be something you’d want to talk about as well. I think it’s pretty clear based on context clues that Georgia is fat, and part of the reason she feels like an outsider is because she’s dealt with a lot of fatphobic comments all her life. I think she’s also hyper-aware of this because her brother is this popular jock and they look very different, body-composition-wise. Mark’s shitty friend even makes a comment about it. But again, I like that this was subtle. Georgia doesn’t obsess over her body. She thinks about it sometimes, but it’s not, like, her main personality trait, and it’s not a major plot point. It’s just part of her appearance, but it doesn’t fully encompass who she is. 

Mary: Yes! I’m going to be honest, I didn’t even realize this until you mentioned the comment Trevor makes about Georgia. We get a lot of practical hints, like Mark is obsessed with his weight and body and only eats certain foods, while Georgia loves junk food, but none of that is just outright saying she’s fat. There’s also a comment Carrie makes about how her metabolism is good and she’s going to have to choose whether to eat food she likes at some point or get fat. 

Honestly, I’ve read a lot of books about fat characters and this one is maybe the most respectful or normalizing I’ve seen in a long time. Georgia isn’t necessarily ashamed of herself, but like you said, she’s probably dealt with a ton of fatphobic comments throughout her life. Her weight shapes who she is, but it’s not a plot point, and it’s not something that anyone dwells on. 

To jump back to your point about how the stories don’t seem related at first, I really enjoyed that. It felt like a puzzle laid over a puzzle. I was trying to figure out how the two were related while Todd and Georgia were trying to figure out what happened, too. 

I’ll also say that Todd’s perspective is just so strange and interesting. It doesn’t seem like he’s totally forgotten what happened to him. He remembers a lot of his life and what he was up to, and I guess he remembers how he died, too, even though he doesn’t reveal it to the reader. We don’t find out what actually happened until Georgia does. I really appreciated hearing Todd’s thoughts on things, since in normal circumstances he wouldn’t be able to tell us anything.

You said a lot of things were working for you in this book—want to talk about some of those?

Emily: Well, aside from the way that fatness and sexuality were handled with subtlety and sensitivity, I thought the mystery and the way it unfolded was compelling. And it also almost made me cry, so not only was it interesting, but it was also emotionally resonant. I also appreciated the way the story looked at law enforcement biases (because ACAB). So that’s a long list of things. I don’t know if there’s one you’re interested in unpacking first. 

Mary: Absolutely. Let’s talk about how the book looks at law enforcement, because I think you’re right that that’s a big part of what makes this book so different. Todd gets to see the detectives both at work and at home, and he learns a lot about their lives and how that might affect their biases on the job. For example, one officer is gay, so he’s quick to call out his partner when she stereotypes Todd’s teacher. We wouldn’t know that if we didn’t get Todd’s perspective as the omnipresent ghost, and I think it added another layer to the story while still being restrained. Again, I just think this perspective is so cool.

Emily: Yeah, that’s another reason I just enjoyed the Todd sections way more than the Georgia sections. In a way, both characters were concealing stuff from us the reader. In Todd’s sections, you get the sense that he knows what happened to him, but he’s just sort of seeing how things play out without offering his perspective, for the most part. With Georgia, she has all the information in front of her, but it was like the only reason she didn’t probe for more information was to keep things from the reader until it was time for the big reveal. Todd not sharing what he knew worked for me because he’s dead. He doesn’t care anymore about how he died or why he died. He’s more concerned with what people remember about him. Georgia… I just don’t get her.

But we’re talking about what we like. Let’s talk about the end? And why it almost made me cry? 

Mary: Yes, I absolutely want to know how it hit you. I didn’t cry, but I did feel very moved by the end. It’s not a happy ending per se. 

Emily: Yeah… I mean, it’s not a happy ending at all. I guess the only happy part is that the teacher—who is initially arrested for the murder because he is gay and had a friendship with Todd—gets to go free. And the real murderers are brought to justice. But the story of what happened to Todd is really, really sad. And the fact that multiple people took part in his death and it was their negligence which lead to his death more than intent to murder. Todd is left in the park bleeding out, but it’s not the loss of blood that kills him. He freezes to death. Which means any one of the teens who came across his body could have saved him if they had done anything about it. But no one helped him. And that’s why he died. And yeah, I didn’t cry, but it made me very sad. 

Mary: Right, it’s sort of an accident at first. Todd slips and falls, which isn’t really in anyone’s control, but Georgia’s brother Mark and his crappy friends were so scared of getting in trouble that they just left. It definitely left me wondering “what if?” What if they would’ve helped him and not been so scared of the consequences? What if they’d, you know, shown a shred of human decency? The book spends a lot of time trying to convince readers that this is more Trevor’s fault than Mark’s, I think. Carrie tells Georgia that Shirley is really powerful and convincing, and even she bows to Trevor, but like…Mark is also definitely responsible. He made his own choices. 

I think maybe what’s saddest about this is that the whole time leading up to the incident, Todd is really happy because he sees this budding relationship with Mark, who he thinks he’s in love with. It’s a very sweet crush, and to have it cut off so abruptly was just sad. Todd didn’t get a chance to figure himself out because some lame teen boys were worried they’d get caught  cheating on a test. 

Emily: Right, and I guess to add even more tragedy to all of that, Todd was coming to the park to tell Mark that he’d worked everything out with the teacher and no one was going to get in trouble for cheating on the test. The moral of the story? Don’t be nice to people. I guess. Or maybe be nicer to people? Or both?

Anyway, let’s rate this.

Mary: I rated this one 4 stars on Goodreads, because I was really perplexed by Georgia and kind of frustrated by her not asking questions sometimes.

Emily: I gave this the same rating because I felt the same. At the end of the day, I felt moved by the story, and I think overall it was an intriguing read. I read through this really quickly and it was definitely a page-turner, but Georgia was so frustrating. Not that this is necessarily a good or bad thing, but… I also found the writing style to be extremely minimalist, and I was wondering if that had anything to do with Tamaki’s background in graphic novels? What do you think about that, Mary?

Mary: Oh, that’s definitely a good point! She’s definitely more well known for her graphic novels, and she’s even done some YA graphic novels like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, which I loved when I reviewed it. Writing for comics is different from writing a novel, where you have to do all the work to create the space. I think for realism you can kind of depend on your readers’ knowledge of the world. For example, we can imagine more or less what a classroom looks like or what a park looks like. That being said, I agree that this feels pretty minimalistic, but I typically enjoy that writing style alright. Too much flowery language and I’m out! 

This also might be a trope of YA lit to some extent. People perceive (not saying Tamaki sees it this way, but vague “people”) YA lit as being written for a lower reading level, so they don’t go wild on the prose part of it. I don’t think that’s true, but there are some wildly different ideas about YA lit. Do you want to talk about what we’re reading next? I know we’re both really excited for this one. 

Emily: Well, I literally know nothing about it, but I can sure do my best! We’re reading A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger. We both really loved this author’s last book Elatsoe, which we read last year for YA book club. So yeah, when it comes to books like this, I try to go in knowing as little as possible because I’m already sold on the author.

Mary: Same here—I know next to nothing about it, but I will read anything by Darcie Little Badger because I L O V E D Elatsoe. Todd has already read A Snake Falls to Earth and is already petitioning to join us! 

Emily: I guess we could arrange that! See y’all next time!