Overview
Alternately heartbreaking and starkly humorous, this teenager's brutal story of escape and desire for redemption is masterfully told by award-winning writer and film director Adam Rapp.I'm what they call a Gray Grouper. The Red Groupers are the junkies and the Blue Groupers are the suicide kids.
Steve Nugent is in a facility called Burnstone Grove. It's a place for kids who are addicts, like Shannon Lynch, who can stick $1.87 in change up his nose, or for kids who have tried to commit suicide, like Silent Starla, whom Steve is getting a crush on. But Steve doesn't really fit in either group. He used to go to a gifted school. So why is he being held at Burnstone Grove? Keeping a journal, in which he recalls his confused and violent past, Steve is left to figure out who he is by examining who he was.
Synopsis
Alternately heartbreaking and starkly humorous, this teenager's brutal story of escape and desire for redemption is masterfully told by award-winning writer and film director Adam Rapp.
I'm what they call a Gray Grouper. The Red Groupers are the junkies and the Blue Groupers are the suicide kids.
Steve Nugent is in a facility called Burnstone Grove. It's a place for kids who are addicts, like Shannon Lynch, who can stick $1.87 in change up his nose, or for kids who have tried to commit suicide, like Silent Starla, whom Steve is getting a crush on. But Steve doesn't really fit in either group. He used to go to a gifted school. So why is he being held at Burnstone Grove? Keeping a journal, in which he recalls his confused and violent past, Steve is left to figure out who he is by examining who he was.
KLIATT
To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2004: Steve is in a resident treatment facility for junkies and suicidal teens, and in order to figure out how he ended up there he keeps a journal, looking back at his life so far. And what a grim life it has been—his mother died of cancer a few months ago; his drugged-out older brother, a former basketball star sidelined by sciatica, committed suicide recently; and his father is almost catatonic with depression. "Grief does strange things to all of us," one character notes, and Steve, in trying to cope with his losses, goes off the deep end. He kicks in TV sets at his father's electronics shop, and gets so wasted on cough syrup he ends up blinding himself in one eye. He runs off with June, a young girl he meets, and then abandons her on a bus. The end holds out some hope, however, as Steve acquires a girlfriend and starts to come to terms with his past. As with Rapp's recent 33 Snowfish, this is a gritty, wrenching, and convincing tale about a teen in crisis, and the anguish Steve experiences comes across clearly. Black humor and memorable images abound, and there are echoes of Holden Caulfield, too. A disturbing but memorable read for mature teens. (An ALA Best Book for YAs.)
Editorials
Children's Literature
Sixteen-year-old Steve Nugent resides in the Burnstone Grove treatment facility for suicidal and drug-addicted teens. He opts to write down his experiences in a biographical journal rather than verbally participating in a group. Steve's life has been anything but uneventful for the past year, and coming to terms with so many life-altering experiences has left him a wreck, both mentally and physically—including the loss of vision in one eye from self-mutilation. After the death of his mother, his father is barely able to function on a human level, and when Steve's drug-plagued older brother hangs himself Steve loses what little piece of sanity he has left, leaving his only friend, ten-year-old June, on a bus alone hundreds of miles from home. Yet, somehow the author manages to make the bleak situation humorous at times by weaving in sarcastically-accurate descriptions of people's genitalia and bodily functions. Within the walls of the facility Steve begins to interact with his fellow residents, comes to terms with his new world, and even manages to begin a relationship. This in-depth look into the troubled life of an on-the-brink-of-insanity teen pulls the reader in via vivid accounts of a year-long struggle with love, sexuality, addiction, family, friendship, and death, showing mature teens inner-turmoil recorded for the world to observe. 2004, Candlewick Press, Ages 16 up.—Kori L. Mullins
KLIATT
Steve is in a resident treatment facility for junkies and suicidal teens, and in order to figure out how he ended up there he keeps a journal, looking back at his life so far. And what a grim life it has been—his mother died of cancer a few months ago; his drugged-out older brother, a former basketball star sidelined by sciatica, committed suicide recently; and his father is almost catatonic with depression. "Grief does strange things to all of us," one character notes, and Steve, in trying to cope with his losses, goes off the deep end. He kicks in TV sets at his father's electronics shop, and gets so wasted on cough syrup he ends up blinding himself in one eye. He runs off with June, a young girl he meets, and then abandons her on a bus. The end holds out some hope, however, as Steve acquires a girlfriend and starts to come to terms with his past. As with Rapp's recent 33 Snowfish, this is a gritty, wrenching, and convincing tale about a teen in crisis, and the anguish Steve experiences comes across clearly. Black humor and memorable images abound, and there are echoes of Holden Caulfield, too. A disturbing but memorable read for mature teens. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2004, Candlewick, 320p., Ages 15 to adult.—Paula Rohrlick