Suite Scarlett

Posted on by scott

I’ve been meaning to blog about Maureen Johnson’s new book, Suite Scarlett, which came out last week.

The book is set in a Manhattan hotel owned by a somewhat dysfunctional family. The hotel’s glory days are long over, so all the kids have to work there—including Scarlett, the 15-year-old protagonist.

The funny begins to roll when a wealthy (and strange) guest checks in for the whole summer and decides to make Scarlett her personal assistant. Then she decides to put on an off-Broadway show.

Now, those of you who’ve read Maureen will know that she is the master of many flavors of comedy. She can do dry-witted, surreal, and screwball in the same paragraph. Like this scene in which the wealthy guest, Mrs. Anderson, joins the family for dinner:

“I’m not late, am I?” Mrs. Amberson said with a smile. “I lose track of time when I’m meditating.”

Her face was tautly stretched into a smile that didn’t seem entirely sane to Scarlett. It wobbled just a bit at the corners. Also, she was carrying what appeared to be a dead ferret in her fist.

“No,” Scarlett’s dad said, obviously trying not to look at the dead animal. “Right on time. Please, sit down.”

The addition of Mrs. Amberson and her dead ferret to the mix was not something Scarlett had anticipated. She sat down quickly to steady herself, and Mrs. Amberson planted herself right next to her, slinging the ferret around the back of her neck in a swoop that grazed Scarlett’s ear.

“I hope you don’t mind this,” she said, flicking the thing with her finger. “It’s a vintage piece I converted into a bead cushion imbued with essential revitalizing oils. I call him Charlie.

So the ferret had a name. Even better.

That last line captures Scarlett’s dry fatalism perfectly. Life is just so weird. And the cool thing is, it turns out that Maureen’s life is weird too, as you can see in this post on John Scalzi’s blog. (Scalzi has been all about YA for several days now.)

You can order Suite Scarlett now on Amazon/Borders, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s, or from any local bookseller. And check out this amazing contest on Maureen’s blog. Win a trip to Manhattan, a stay in a fancy New York hotel, and lunch with Maureen . . . even better.

106 thoughts on “Suite Scarlett”

  2. oooooo never been #1 b4……
    that looks like a really good book!!!
    note to self: get hands on book somehow

  4. Only somewhat dysfunctional? Definitely not.

    Suite Scarlett is an amazing book so go out and read it!

  7. woot! no 5!!!! never been in single digits before! just from that excerpt i can tell that that book will be a good read!

    Her dry humour sums up practically what my friends humour is about also like you cant tell it is meant to be funny. She is sooo funny!

    I am so going out to buy that book soon…anyone know how much it is? and whether it is in paperbeck? just wondering…

    I’m getting a short story published!!! Yay !!! one step closer to being as great as scott!!! lol

  10. My 18th is on Thursday and I’m praying and sreaming for Suite Scarlett. I tried to buy it a couple of weeks ago but they told me they wouldn’t let me because technically it wasn’t out till last Thursday. Bastards.

  11. I love Maureen Johnson’s books!! I want to read that book. I heard about it on another blog a few days ago.

    It seems like all YA authors know Maureen Johnson. She’s like the Obama of YA fiction or something like that. idk.

  12. You write really good stuff about people’s books, Scott. 🙂

    Haha! Obama! *bursts into Obama fight song*

    That looks so neat-o, so I shall find it at my cheap-o librario.

  14. lol i have been trying to win a book on her blog that makes me want to read it even more…
    didnt scott-sama win once

  16. library…doesn’t….have it….must wait….hard…not…sure if…i’ll….*gasps for air*…make it……*collapses*

  19. yes!! at least i’m above the top 40 this time.

    yeah, i read Suitte Scarlett. yeah, it was awesome. fawesome, even.
    i think i reviewed it, actually.
    and read it while driving in and then out of New York City, which was kind of ironic really.
    did the same thing the first time i read City of Bones.

    Maureen Johnson is hilarious. i almost choked while reading this book. BEWARE.

  21. HEY! I just got back from B&N and i saw that and went “…Eh…” and left.

    KAY-WA!!! Guess what i got! AMBITION! Then i saw in the back that in September shes coming out with book #8….Revelation. Yep…shes just gonna keep going i suppose.

  22. fawesomeness! i’m so excited for Revelation!! ..the final book! 🙁 …it better end on a really good note though cuz if it doesn’t and she makes Reed all sad and lonely again i’m gonna be mad. and then i guess there’s also a prequel about Ariana’s junior year. but then….. we start an entirely new series! …Privilege! haha. can’t wait! but i will miss Reed and Josh.

  23. hahaha a ferret named Charlie!!

    Aww man, so swamped with homework and extracirriculars right now but the list of books to read is growing steadily longer… oh dear. talk about bad timing. Currently reading “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer, just got it yesterday 🙂 🙂

    Speaking of Revelations, the third book in the Blue Bloods series is also called “Revelations”. with an s.

    Going to be sixteen in a few days; I feel so old :’|

  26. hi i got comment number 26 13 dubbled ya

  28. I just got back from my softball game. It was really pathetic….I got the only hit during the whole freaking game, and I split my hand open doing it. It was a big bloody mess! Like seriously, gushing out of my hand…

  30. ooo TZ i hope your hands okay! last season i took a pitch that looked like it was on the inside corner but then curved and it sandwiched my hand in between the bat and the ball. then it was like huge and swollen and bloody and gross! lol. fun stuff.

    tomorrow i get out at noon! 😀 and i don’t have any clue as to why. but who cares. half a days rock!

  32. ooo hope u feel better T&Z!!! that sounds painful.
    hmmm…wonder if i can do comment 39….

  33. gonna wait a few minutes so that the wordpress dudes don’t get me….hope it works

  35. Many of you might have already read The “Twilight” Series by Stephenie Meyer, But if you haven’t do so or you are not fullfiling your life as a YA reader!

  37. so guess what… i have been having like the greatest day! see today we got out at 12 because there’s a big track meet and they need a lot of help so yeah teachers and track kids have to go and work at it. (haha. glad i’m not a trackie) and so today we skipped block 1b (u.s. history for me) and just stayed in band the whole time and had chocolate fest! it was great fun, there were like all these fancy different types of chocolate like i had… cookies-n-cream thing, chocolate with caramel, chocolate with mint, and one that’s like a reese peanut butter cup. so pretty much band was fawesome. then i went to journalism and we are just starting our photography unit which makes me like uber happy. and then i went to spanish we did an activity and i got called out of it to guidance to work on next years schedule so that wasted a bunch of time. 😀 and then i went to math and we played jeopardy. …pretty great day. and later we have our first softball practice of the season… if it doesn’t rain.

  40. 4 neone who needs a good long book to read, u should read inkheart–really good book, it’s sequel is inkspell.

  41. Ahhhh on page 253 of The Host! 🙂

    Hope your hand gets better soon, Tally & Zane!

    I got Inkheart a few years ago… except I had to rush through it for a school assignment and wasn’t properly able to enjoy it. Which is somewhat ironic because I went out and ordered it because the preview chapter in the back of The Thief Lord made it sound amazing.

    Sounds like an awesome day, Kay-wa!

  42. ooo, i saw this book at b&n, but i only had a little bit of money on me and couldnt buy it, but i got the host, a SAT book for my sister, and like 2 other books…. but this one looks good! i’ll get it this weekend after babysitting!!! and i love this smiley 😳 *giggle giggle* 🙂

  43. im postponing the actual purchase of said fawesomeness. i want to see if i can win one first. tho with my horribly suckish luck, that probably will not happen.

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 🙄

  45. OMG!!! im so stressed. I have had so much work and studding this week i feel like just crying. Or screaming. one of the two.

    Now i have to study, read, and daily exercise. I don’t no about you but i dont want to be a floppy noodle when i grow up, there for i build muscle now. But not like those weird muscley people. ew.

  46. i know how you feel Bran-la. i have those weeks too. hang in there though it’ll get better.

    i need to exercise more. so very out of shape. i had my first practice for softball tonight and i like pulled my butt muscle. (lol. haha. sorry. probably too much info.) it’s better now though. so yeah once summer conditioning starts up i’ll be running more than a mile each day. and having like 2 softball practices each day for both my teams. (summer league, and the school team that starts in the fall) so i’ll get in shape soon enough.

    10 more days of school for me. 😀

  48. *gasp!* SCOTT-LA!!!!!!!!!!!!! *eyes grow in size*. YOUR COMMENTING!!!!!!!!!!!!! ive only ever seen you do that like, twice!!!!!!!!!!!!! so much fawesomeness.

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! :mrgreen:

  49. as for the butt difficulties: hang in there Kay-wa!!!

    i gave up movement when i was four. i was such a smart almost-kindergartener. *wipes tear of proudlyness from eye*.

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 😛

  50. Oh heck yes! I could go into a like 50 page discussion on how fawesome the game was and how many fawesome hits I and the rest of the team got, but I won’t, so long story short, we won
    12-11 to like the best freaking team in the league who has never ever lost till now. So…oh yeah…I also saw a person of the guy variety who I haven’t seen in over like a year, and it made me really happy to talk to him again, and he saw me kick butt on the softball field so all in all good day. (Hand still hurts though, muaha! and thanks to the peeps that wished me well)
    Oh and I got a type-writer, and I love it!

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