by Adam Rapp
First published 2011
Custis, Curl, and Boobie speed down empty roads in a stolen vehicle, a kidnapped infant in the backseat. These three young people carry scars from brutal pasts that have left them broken and desperate. They believe escape might offer them a fresh start, but their histories follow like shadows they cannot outrun. The weight of what they have endured and what they have done presses down on each mile they travel. Rapp writes in the raw vernacular of the streets, mixing harsh realism with flowing, stream-of-consciousness passages. Two of the teens speak in voices marked by pain and loss, while the third communicates only through sketches and drawings. Their journey becomes a reckoning with damage that seems irreversible. Yet within this bleak landscape, one character discovers that redemption can emerge from unexpected sources. The story illuminates how compassion can penetrate even the deepest alienation and deprivation.
Genres: fiction, drama, crime, contemporary
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, redemption
192 pages · Kindle Edition · Candlewick Press
Content warnings: abuse, addiction, child-abuse, domestic-violence, physical-abuse