Wow was this a good book! Most times when I read a book, I have just read a review of it, or at least an overview of it, and so I know what I’m getting into when I start reading. With Tell the Wolves I’m Home, I just started reading the book, and did not know a single thing about it. I must have loaded it on to my e-Reader after reading something positive about it, but I could not remember anything about what the story would be.
Maybe that was why I liked the book so much – it was all a complete surprise. The book’s main character, June, lives in New York, in a suburb of NYC, with her mom, dad and older sister, Greta. The girls are 14 (June) and 16 (Greta), and the story is set in the late 1980’s. Man, did the author ever nail it with her pop culture references, like watching Family Ties or The Cosby Show as a family, or buying a pair of Guess jeans, or playing Trivial Pursuit for the first time. My most favorite pop culture reference was the Best Friends necklace in the shape of a heart – broken down the middle so one friend wears Be / Fri and the other wears St / Ends. I definitely had 3 of those growing up.
Poor June is a bit of an outcast (she likes to pretend she lives in Medieval Times) and her Uncle Finn who lives in the city is her best friend. Finn is a well-known painter… and he is gay, and has AIDS. Once I learned that Finn had AIDS, then the timing of the story made sense – the author wanted to frame the story around the time when no one really knew what AIDS was or how it was contracted.
Finn is not well and is obviously at the end of his life. Once he is gone, his “special friend”, whom June’s mom is convinced should be called a murderer since she believes that he gave Finn the disease, contacts June, and the two develop a sort of clandestine relationship. Interspersed in all of this is June’s relationship with Greta. The two girls are only 2 years apart, and the author absolutely nailed the dynamics of a sisterly relationship between two girls that are so close together in age – and at that specific age as well. I highly recommend Tell the Wolves I’m Home.
I was recommended this book by someone who I really really really trust and you’re right, it’s still been a complete surprise. I like it for really strange things and dislike it for other random things. I really liked your review! Thanks for sharing!