Tell the
Wolves I’m Home
By Carol
Rifka Brunt
Published by
Dial Press
Copyright ©
2012
In 1987 the
world was a slightly smaller and more compartmentalized place. For someone to
come out as being homosexual was still a big shock, and while they were on the
cusp of a successful treatment, for someone to have AIDS was a death sentence
and it often made them a pariah. For those of you who were alive then it is
amazing how different the world is now. This book will bring that back to you.
June Elbus
is 14. She is a nerdy, awkward, dreamer. While not ugly she is not especially
attractive when compared to her older sister Greta. June and Greta used to be
best friends, but somewhere along the way they grew apart and Greta became very
mean. Recently their Uncle Finn, a famous New York City Artist, painted a
portrait of them together as his last gift to them before he succumbed to AIDS.
Finn was June’s best friend, godfather, and the only person she felt truly
understood her. June believes that she knew her uncle better than anyone, but a
stranger will help her get a whole new perspective. She will learn more than
she ever thought she could about her uncle, her parents, her sister, and
especially herself.
“Tell the
Wolves I’m Home” is an absorbing family drama that is at once tragic and
hopeful. It touches on themes of who we love and how, loss and grief, intense
jealousy, and sibling relationships. I found little nuggets of truth that we
often forget about like why we all do what we do, or why we love who we love.
Brunt has
written compelling character’s that make you feel something and then later give
you conflicted feelings. The story’s protagonist is very well written and
complex; naïve and thoughtful all at once. The same of course can be said of
all the characters in this book; few of them remain as simple as they seem at
first.
Also well
done is how the story doesn’t feel old or dated even though it was set in 1987,
and yet it really can’t exist in this permutation without this time period. To
make this a contemporary realistic novel would not work. There are certainly
still hateful and ignorant people out in the world, but the majority today is
more tolerant, if not accepting of homosexuality, and we have much greater
insight about the transmission of HIV and AIDS. So the reaction June’s family has
to the tragedy and its unfolding aftermath is wholly unique to this time period.
“Tell the
Wolves I’m Home” is a 2013 Alex Award Winner, an annual award given to books
written for adults that have special appeal to young adults. This book
certainly discusses some mature topics in addition to AIDS and Homosexuality,
but it does not descriptively go beyond what is appropriate for teens (12-18).
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