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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
Tell the Wolves I’m home is devastating.
And not in the sense of tragedy porn devastating- like one of those Nicholas Sparks movies that inevitably end with cancer or an organ transplant from a dead lover. You would think the tragedy wrung from a story bookended by the deaths of the narrator’s two uncles from AIDS might be a cheap attempt at eliciting tears. But Tell the Wolves I’m Home never feels emotionally manipulative. Every bit of sadness that drip from Brunt’s words feels authentic and earned. The tears that welled in my eyes upon finishing the book felt like a reaction to the emotional pain of real people.
Instead, every page of Tell the Wolves I’m Home enveloped me with quiet devastation of a lonely fourteen-year old girl. June reminds me quite a bit of Holden Caulfield, if he was a little less angry, a bit more sad, and grew up a few decades later than he did. Both take clandestine visits to the city. Both feel a profound sense of alienation from those around them. June even shares Holden’s ambivalence to sex- she longs for a world where:
“If you found a person that you like, you wouldn’t have to have sex. You could just hold them… you could sit close to them so you could hear the machine of them churning away… you could listen to the rhythm of them, knowing you were both made of the exact same stuff”.
This is the kind of love she feels towards her uncle. It’s a testament to the author that her overwhelming “first love” for him comes across as sweet and beautiful, rather than creepy or obsessive.
Whereas Holden dismissing everyone around him as “phony”, June deals with her isolation by retreating to another time entirely. She plays in the forest, pretending that, with a precious pair of boots gifted to her by her late uncle, she can be transported to the middle ages. She longs for the days where:
“People didn’t know everything. There were things people had never seen before, Places nobody had been. You could make up a story and people would believe it. You could believe in dragons and saints. You could look around at plants and think that maybe they could save your life. And well, maybe it seems like it would be okay not to be perfect. Nobody was perfect back then. Just about everyone was defective, and most people had no choice but to stay that way.”
The prose in this book is gorgeous. It took my breath away many times. The way Brunt describes June’s internal struggles and reactions to the world feel so true to the experience of a shy and lonely kid, to the point where they uncomfortably took me back to my own youth.
“That's what being shy feels like. Like my skin is too thin, the light too bright. Like the best place I could possibly be is in a tunnel far under the cool, dark earth. Someone asks me a question and I stare at them, empty-faced, my brain jammed up with how hard I'm trying to find something interesting to say. And in the end, all I can do is nod or shrug, because the light of their eyes looking at me, waiting for me, is just too much to take. And then it's over and there's one more person in the world who thinks I'm a complete and total waste of space. The worst thing is the stupid hopefulness. Every new party, every new bunch of people, and I start thinking that maybe this is my chance. That I'm going to be normal this time. A new leaf. A fresh start. But then I find myself at the party, thinking, Oh, yeah. This again. “
Its hard to think of a passage that could describe how I felt growing up better than that. There are so many more passages I want to include in this review, but at that point I might as well transcribe the whole novel, and I don’t think anyone has time for that.
And while there were a lot of characters that I did not particularly like, I found myself loving every single one of them. Sure, Greta is a bully with cutting flashes of cruelty, Toby initially comes across as going over-the-line in his desperate pursuit of the friendship of a high-school girl. June’s mother at times comes across the worst at all- through her actions towards her brother-in-law we see where her daughters got their jealousy and cruelty. But just as I felt a flash of hate towards a character in my gut, I would come across a new scene in which I rediscovered their humanity.
In fact, despite just how detestable June’s sister Greta comes across at times, the dynamics between sisters might just be my favorite part of Tell the Wolves I’m Home.
“She was wired into my heart. Twisted and kinked and threaded right through.”
Tell the Wolves I’m Home is about how our relationships with others, for better or for worse, stay with us forever. It is a novel both moving and impactful and you should read it.
And not in the sense of tragedy porn devastating- like one of those Nicholas Sparks movies that inevitably end with cancer or an organ transplant from a dead lover. You would think the tragedy wrung from a story bookended by the deaths of the narrator’s two uncles from AIDS might be a cheap attempt at eliciting tears. But Tell the Wolves I’m Home never feels emotionally manipulative. Every bit of sadness that drip from Brunt’s words feels authentic and earned. The tears that welled in my eyes upon finishing the book felt like a reaction to the emotional pain of real people.
Instead, every page of Tell the Wolves I’m Home enveloped me with quiet devastation of a lonely fourteen-year old girl. June reminds me quite a bit of Holden Caulfield, if he was a little less angry, a bit more sad, and grew up a few decades later than he did. Both take clandestine visits to the city. Both feel a profound sense of alienation from those around them. June even shares Holden’s ambivalence to sex- she longs for a world where:
“If you found a person that you like, you wouldn’t have to have sex. You could just hold them… you could sit close to them so you could hear the machine of them churning away… you could listen to the rhythm of them, knowing you were both made of the exact same stuff”.
This is the kind of love she feels towards her uncle. It’s a testament to the author that her overwhelming “first love” for him comes across as sweet and beautiful, rather than creepy or obsessive.
Whereas Holden dismissing everyone around him as “phony”, June deals with her isolation by retreating to another time entirely. She plays in the forest, pretending that, with a precious pair of boots gifted to her by her late uncle, she can be transported to the middle ages. She longs for the days where:
“People didn’t know everything. There were things people had never seen before, Places nobody had been. You could make up a story and people would believe it. You could believe in dragons and saints. You could look around at plants and think that maybe they could save your life. And well, maybe it seems like it would be okay not to be perfect. Nobody was perfect back then. Just about everyone was defective, and most people had no choice but to stay that way.”
The prose in this book is gorgeous. It took my breath away many times. The way Brunt describes June’s internal struggles and reactions to the world feel so true to the experience of a shy and lonely kid, to the point where they uncomfortably took me back to my own youth.
“That's what being shy feels like. Like my skin is too thin, the light too bright. Like the best place I could possibly be is in a tunnel far under the cool, dark earth. Someone asks me a question and I stare at them, empty-faced, my brain jammed up with how hard I'm trying to find something interesting to say. And in the end, all I can do is nod or shrug, because the light of their eyes looking at me, waiting for me, is just too much to take. And then it's over and there's one more person in the world who thinks I'm a complete and total waste of space. The worst thing is the stupid hopefulness. Every new party, every new bunch of people, and I start thinking that maybe this is my chance. That I'm going to be normal this time. A new leaf. A fresh start. But then I find myself at the party, thinking, Oh, yeah. This again. “
Its hard to think of a passage that could describe how I felt growing up better than that. There are so many more passages I want to include in this review, but at that point I might as well transcribe the whole novel, and I don’t think anyone has time for that.
And while there were a lot of characters that I did not particularly like, I found myself loving every single one of them. Sure, Greta is a bully with cutting flashes of cruelty, Toby initially comes across as going over-the-line in his desperate pursuit of the friendship of a high-school girl. June’s mother at times comes across the worst at all- through her actions towards her brother-in-law we see where her daughters got their jealousy and cruelty. But just as I felt a flash of hate towards a character in my gut, I would come across a new scene in which I rediscovered their humanity.
In fact, despite just how detestable June’s sister Greta comes across at times, the dynamics between sisters might just be my favorite part of Tell the Wolves I’m Home.
“She was wired into my heart. Twisted and kinked and threaded right through.”
Tell the Wolves I’m Home is about how our relationships with others, for better or for worse, stay with us forever. It is a novel both moving and impactful and you should read it.
3.25; beautifully written but some parts were just a little too unbelievable for me, like a 16 yr old with just a learners permit driving into the middle of NYC in the middle of the night? Seems a little far fetched for me
Just didn't finish it after a few chapters. Possibly because of the age and immaturity of the narrator, the library book was due, and I didn't care to renew.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book! I could physically feel the pain of the characters in the book. The love stories are so heartfelt. I love the tension in the sisters' relationship too.
I couldn't finish this book. I tried for weeks, and I just didn't care.
I read this book for my book club. I had never heard of it prior to reading it and I had no idea what it was about when I cracked it open. I loved this book! It was a difficult story to put down. The story was filled with so much emotion I found myself laughing and crying right along with the characters. It's a story about love, about different types of love. It's about loss. It's about learning, growing, and changing. It's about looking beyond someone's past and looking deeper into someone to find out who they really are. I love the time period in which it was set (the year I was born) and I think the author captured a controversial issue of that time period perfectly.
I'd definitely read it again. I had only borrowed it from the library, but plan to purchase it in the near future.
I learned it was the author's debut novel. That surprised me because the story was written so well I expected the author have had several books published before this one. If there's anything else out there by Carol Rifka Brunt (and I will be checking!), my TBR list is going to be growing!
I'd definitely read it again. I had only borrowed it from the library, but plan to purchase it in the near future.
I learned it was the author's debut novel. That surprised me because the story was written so well I expected the author have had several books published before this one. If there's anything else out there by Carol Rifka Brunt (and I will be checking!), my TBR list is going to be growing!
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Brunt writes the voice of an outsider teenager well...the emotions, the intensity, the uncertainty, and her descriptions border on poetic in certain spots. I really enjoyed this novel, probably partially because I'm just old enough to remember the fear and the stigma of AIDS in the mid-80s and what it did to families. Really enjoyed this novel.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home de [a:Carol Rifka Brunt|5274234|Carol Rifka Brunt|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1334514653p2/5274234.jpg]
No puedo recordar la última vez que le di 5 estrellas a un libro, y gente, este libro se las merece. Tell the Wolves I'm Home es un libro que estaba en mis por leer desde hace ya algún tiempo, desde el momento en que lo agregue sabía que probablemente me iba a gustar, con tan sólo leer la sinopsis simplemente, de alguna forma, lo sabía.
La autora nos relata la historia de June, una chica de 14 años que vive en los años ochenta y siente que es una inadaptada social, menos cuando esta con su tío Finn, su mejor amigo en todo el mundo, pero la vida siempre da sorpresas no muy agradables... Finn esta muriendo de SIDA y no hay nada que ella pueda hacer al respecto. Luego de que su tío muere, June se siente devastada y no sabe que hacer ahora, con sus peculiares gustos e introvertida personalidad hacer amigos no es su fuerte, añadan una hermana perfecta que aparentemente la odia y como cereza en el tope unos padres muy ocupados que no entienden a cabalidad lo mucho que la afecto la muerte de su tío. Cuando las cosas no podían ponerse peor, aparece el "amigo especial" de su Finn: Toby, tal vez la única persona en todo el mundo que entienda por lo que está pasando, pero ¿puede confiar en este extraño al que toda su familia desprecia? ¿Cómo puede ser que nunca haya escuchado a Finn hablando de Toby si era tan importante en su vida? ¿Tal vez... Finn no la amaba tanto como ella a él? En Tell the Wolves I'm Home tenemos la historia de una chica que aprende a lidiar con el dolor, la pérdida, la amistad e inevitablemente entiende el valor de la vida.
En este, su primer libro, la autora hizo un esplendido trabajo en narrar una historia controversial, especialmente en un año como 1987, cuando el temor y el estigma al SIDA estaba en el tope, la forma en que usa las palabras y describe a la perfección todas las situaciones es simplemente maravillosa, sus personajes, sus historias y la forma en que enlaza el final y lo entrega en una cajita envuelto con un lazo rojo es algo que sinceramente vale la pena leer.
No puedo recordar la última vez que le di 5 estrellas a un libro, y gente, este libro se las merece. Tell the Wolves I'm Home es un libro que estaba en mis por leer desde hace ya algún tiempo, desde el momento en que lo agregue sabía que probablemente me iba a gustar, con tan sólo leer la sinopsis simplemente, de alguna forma, lo sabía.
La autora nos relata la historia de June, una chica de 14 años que vive en los años ochenta y siente que es una inadaptada social, menos cuando esta con su tío Finn, su mejor amigo en todo el mundo, pero la vida siempre da sorpresas no muy agradables... Finn esta muriendo de SIDA y no hay nada que ella pueda hacer al respecto. Luego de que su tío muere, June se siente devastada y no sabe que hacer ahora, con sus peculiares gustos e introvertida personalidad hacer amigos no es su fuerte, añadan una hermana perfecta que aparentemente la odia y como cereza en el tope unos padres muy ocupados que no entienden a cabalidad lo mucho que la afecto la muerte de su tío. Cuando las cosas no podían ponerse peor, aparece el "amigo especial" de su Finn: Toby, tal vez la única persona en todo el mundo que entienda por lo que está pasando, pero ¿puede confiar en este extraño al que toda su familia desprecia? ¿Cómo puede ser que nunca haya escuchado a Finn hablando de Toby si era tan importante en su vida? ¿Tal vez... Finn no la amaba tanto como ella a él? En Tell the Wolves I'm Home tenemos la historia de una chica que aprende a lidiar con el dolor, la pérdida, la amistad e inevitablemente entiende el valor de la vida.
En este, su primer libro, la autora hizo un esplendido trabajo en narrar una historia controversial, especialmente en un año como 1987, cuando el temor y el estigma al SIDA estaba en el tope, la forma en que usa las palabras y describe a la perfección todas las situaciones es simplemente maravillosa, sus personajes, sus historias y la forma en que enlaza el final y lo entrega en una cajita envuelto con un lazo rojo es algo que sinceramente vale la pena leer.