Tell the Wolves I'm Home (utgåvan 2012)

This is a sad story about a family that stopped communicating when a mysterious (at the time) disease stepped into their lives. Julia (14 years old) and her sister, Greta (16 years old) go with their mother to visit their uncle who is suffering from AIDS. Julia feels dull and stupid next to her beautiful and intelligent sister and has come to feel that her uncle/godfather is the only friend she has. Her mother is too scared of the specter of AIDS to allow her to visit alone. Uncle Finn has a roommate who is never present when they visit. When Finn dies, Julia feels like she has lost her only friend. When Finn's friend, Toby, contacts her, she begins to step out of her comfort zones and travels to the city to visit him. Her parents are accountants and since it is tax season it is easy for her to slip away. Greta is involved in a school play but is alarmingly starting to drink. Once close, the girls are not speaking to each other and are living separate lives.

1987 was at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and fear and misunderstanding ruled the day. People with AIDS were considered murderers when they unknowingly transmitted it and it was feared that the disease could be contracted by simple touch.

Julia is a sad and lonely girl desperately trying to reconnect with her sister. Greta is afraid of moving too fast and away from her family. It is uncomfortable to watch these girls unable to support each other in the way they need it. ( )

This tender story is about June Elbus, a 14-year-old whose best friend is her eccentric Uncle Finn. It’s set in New York City in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis. Finn passes away from the disease and June is left reeling. She loses her bearings when he dies and she begins to question so many things she’s always taken for granted.

Greta is June’s talented older sister; the opposite of her in every way. The relationship between them is tenuous and strained. Most teenage sisters go through this period, but everything is heightened by this unexpected grief. There’s something visceral about dealing with grief while you are still trying to figure out who you are. The grief shapes you in some ways, it’s an undeniable guiding force on your formative years. It influences the way you see the world. Most teens feel invincible, but when you lose someone at that age I think it makes you understand that nothing in this world is permanent and it effects your actions for the rest of your life.

One thing that stood out to me in the novel is the way the author beautifully conveys the raw vulnerability of your early teen years. It is so easy to feel childish and immature or self-conscious. You are balancing on the cusp of adulthood and you have the desperate desire to be both an adult and a child and it’s so hard to navigate that change. I remember being embarrassed by things I didn’t understand or things I felt. That embarrassment can quickly turn to defensiveness and the people who you’ve been closest to, your family, somehow become the enemy over night.

BOTTOM LINE: This book touched my heart in such a real way. I would highly recommend it and the audio is particularly good.

“That's the secret. If you always make sure you're exactly the person you hoped to be, if you always make sure you know only the very best people, then you won't care if you die tomorrow.”

“I thought of all the different kinds of love in the world. I could think of ten without even trying. The way parents love their kids, the way you love a puppy or chocolate ice cream or home or your favorite book or your sister. Or your uncle. There's those kinds of love and then there's the other kind. The falling kind.” ( )

At the beginning of the book, there seemed to be so many possibilities and a level of concern about a subject not much discussed at such a personal, emotional level in it's early history. As the story progressed, it became less and less convincing, loosing touch with reality.

I am not the young adult audience the book was perhaps intended. For the younger audience, it may have a better review than what I am able to give it. ( )

Marvelous book, the kind of pensive, beautiful book where, if you read it with a pen or highlighter, every sentence would be marked or highlighted because the sentences are so beautiful. ( )

June Elbus is a 14 yr. old girl growing up in Westchester outside of NYC in 1987. She feels socially inept and has a fascination with medieval times. Her walks in the forest behind her home afford her the opportunity to imagine herself back in time as the forest carries none of the trappings of modern society.

As the story opens June and her 16 yr. old sister, Greta, are having their portrait painted by their maternal Uncle Finn in his NYC apartment. Finn is June's godfather. He is a well known artist and he is dying of AIDs. The relationship between June and her uncle is a very special bond. He is the one who understands her fascination with medieval society and feeds her imagination with visits to The Cloisters, medieval fairs, movies, etc.

The story explores themes of love, sibling relationships, compassion, secrets, and art as a means of expression. There is a secret relationship, a high school musical, and a very well drawn cast of characters. The author has done an excellent job of capturing public sentiment towards AIDs in that time period and uses that as a vehicle to drive the plot.

I rate it at 5 stars. ( )