Tell the Wolves I'm Home
Ratings96
Average rating4.2
The Wolves Just finished it. I'm in a delicious book coma, where I only have one foot in this reality, and one foot in the book's–1980's New York as AIDS was cutting a swath through a bright and beautiful population, and one where, within, the medieval lands of wolves and music and art could be with you if you wished hard enough.
Five stars. All the stars.
Understandably frustrating book. All these people had to do was have a good conversation, but that never happened back then. I think a good therapy session for all.
I think the blurb for this was better than the actual story. I read it for a prompt in a challenge I'm doing.
I loved this book to pieces. Fell in love with the main character and enjoyed seeing her growth and development through the whole novel. A beautifully touching story that screamed genuine love and affection in the face of tragedy. Will definitely reread one day.
*4.5 stars. Unique and touching. A searching portrait of coping and grieving and loving. Vivid characters and a wonderfully sad but uplifting story.
fairytaleish in this particular way I like, and very on point in being teenager departament. I'll come back to it for sure.
This was a wonderful read!! If you're a fan of coming-of-age stories, I definitely suggest picking this one up. It's a family drama story, with a pre-teen girl narrator. I found the relationships between the characters ridiculously well done, and so real. I could feel the protaganist's teenage angst and rebellion and recognized it as pieces of my own pre-teen struggles. She's mortified several times throughout the story, and I really felt for her, and knew that feeling exactly. This story was really engaging and made it hard to put the book down. I hope Carol Rifka Brunt is working on another novel! 4.5 stars.
For my full review, visit http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2017/04/mini-reviews/
I think maybe I need to be a bit older – to have grown up in the times – to be able to really sink my teeth into this one. I had gotten into my head that this was a book of short stories. I read the first chapter and was blown away. That was one of the best short stories I'd ever read. And then, I realized it was a novel. Not sure if that made it harder for me to get into. Honestly, the book was just okay, not great, for me. I like likable characters, and this one featured a lot of not-so-likables. Still, I'm glad I read it, and it was pretty illustrative. Not what I read fiction for, though, illustrative-ness.
At first I didn't think I'd like this book, but I found I really enjoyed it. The characters are complex and figuring out their complex relationships is interesting and very true to life. I loved the conflict expressed between June and her sister and how it compares to her mother and uncle's relationship. Overall a great read I really enjoyed it.
I devoured this and it was so good and so beautifully written I want to go back and read it again. Stunning.
What a marvelous and beautiful book.
There is considerable talent in the way the author orchestrates this work. You don't really realize how everything is going to tie together eventually and make you understand how gorgeous human love can be and how stupid our constraints are.
“But what if you ended up in the wrong kind of love?” Julia asks. “What if you accidentally ended up in the falling kind with someone it would be so gross to fall in love with that you could never tell anyone in the world about it? ... The kind you squashed deeper and deeper down, but no matter how far you pushed it, no matter how much you hoped it would suffocate, it never did?”
I don't know the last time I got misty-eyed over a book, but Tell the Wolves I'm Home did that for me. And yet it never was overly sentimental or preachy; it walked that line exceptionally well. It's a wonderful debut and I sincerely hope it is listed on many of the end of the year lists. It is a deserving novel, a story that has finally been told with the grace and attention it is entitled to.
Carol Rifka Brunt's one and only book marked the beginning of my fascination with love stories centred around grief or loss, such as [b:The Song of Achilles 13623848 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1357177533l/13623848.SY75.jpg 16176791] or [b:Atonement 6867 Atonement Ian McEwan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320449708l/6867.SY75.jpg 2307233]. I still question why grief resonates with me so deeply. In this book, 14-year-old June adores her gay uncle, Finn Weiss, seeing him as her sole companion. He serves as her godfather, confidant, and closest friend until he succumbs to AIDS. June later falls for Finn's boyfriend, Toby, who also tragically passes away. It's a tale of isolated individuals pushing each other away, only to realise the depth of their loneliness and reunite. While many coming-of-age novels depict protagonists as young, lost, and confused, few delve as boldly and honestly into these themes as this one does. Readers will keenly feel June's confusion, loss, and resilience.