Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Occasionally, I become so emotionally engaged with a novel that I lose all objectivity. This is one of those instances. So if I overstate the merits here it's because this book resonated so strongly with my heart, rather than with my head.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home is the coming-of-age story of 14-year-old June as she faces the loss of her beloved uncle, seemingly the only person who really understood her, from AIDS. The time is the late 1980s when fear of the disorder reigns, with no treatment yet known. In addition, she faces all-too-common teenage sources of angst: a sense of being "different" and misunderstood; estrangement from her older sister, formerly her best friend, who is also facing her own teen issues; a dawning realization that parents and other adults are people who make mistakes, too; a tentative desire to exert independent control over her own life, even though she is often impulsive and perhaps selfish in her actions and judgments.

Most of all, this is a love story--romantic love, parent-child love, love of siblings, love of friends. And it is story of forgiveness for mistakes, many of which are often the by-products of love.

Brunt tells her story through the first-person narrative voice of June, which could have been disastrous if she had mis-stepped as so many do when they try to duplicate a younger voice, but the voice came through as absolutely authentic to my ears, remembering my own teen years, having parented a teen girl, and having taught girls of this age. Even though the AIDS aspect is time-specific, the emotional and intellectual challenges of growing up are universal.

This would be extremely worthwhile and suitable for teen reading, yet is subtle enough and contains sufficient nuances for adult interest. I believe it is extremely well written, although I became so caught up that I soon ceased to remember I was reading. I "lived" with the narrator. And I can't tell you how many times I cried, although the book did not seem mawkish or manipulative in the least. Quite possibly this novel will resonate more with girls and women than with males, because I suspect they have different expectations of life and of themselves, but I believe it would still communicate powerfully. Highly recommended.