The best part of this book is at the end where author Eric Gansworth thanks Wacky Packages for teaching him to think critically.
Not really, but this YA novel is full of twisted truths like that and has a similarly cracked yet wholesome sense of humor. It's at heart a novel about friendship and not afraid to admit that boys can care about each mother deeply and touch each other's lives.
Gansworth also does not flinch from discussing how racism corrupts professional and personal relationships, the history and current flavor of Indian-hating in small towns, ostensibly in the 1970s, or the taste, touch, smell, and feel of poverty on the rez. The man can really write. It's rarely if ever forced or overdone, which is tough in YA, with ALL TEH BIG EMOTIONS. The Tuscarora reservation in upstate New York, like Lewis the protagonist, is flawed and complicated but home, the Lewis, his mother and uncle, and his best friend are deeply human and unique at the same time.
The protagonist's profound love for the Beatles and Wings was hard to stomach at times (sort of joking), but music was a through line that worked well to push up the intensity level of the conflicts between the main characters and others in their community. The friends clearly care about it together the way true fans care about their fandom, and that honed the edge of the big plot points to the point of drawing blood without hyperbole or melodrama.
The difficulty of dealing effectively and ethically with being bullied as a teen without backup from the school or greater community is the other main theme of the book. There is a bit of a deus ex machina here, but it's true nonetheless. It points out that ultimately it's often up up to adults in the community to step up and stop school bullying, because adults are often the drivers and protectors of the bullies. Which means kids shouldn't be ashamed to need, ask for, or demand help and protection when skillz are not enough...
Keepin' it real with a droll and matter-of-fact tone always wins my admiration. I only started this as one from a list of 2014 YA books to check out, but it's already one of the best books I've devoured in the Xmas break aftermath. (And I've been no slouch over the last month.) It's hard to say more without spoilers, like any book that's not just a well-worn groove in a well-known genre, so go read it!
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