2018 School Spending Survey Report
The Weight of This World
Putnam. Mar. 2017. 272p. ISBN 9780399173110. $27; ebk. ISBN 9780698184404. F
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Aiden McCall was orphaned at age 12 when his father shot his mother, then killed himself. After Aiden bounces around among various orphanages in the mountains of western North Carolina, Thad Broom, Aiden's best friend, convinces his mom, April, to adopt Aiden. Years later, after many scrapes with the law as a result of the boys' drug use, Thad joins the U.S. Army to escape his hardscrabble, dysfunctional life, while Aiden's juvenile record keeps him at home with April. When Thad returns after his deployment in Afghanistan, he resumes his substance abuse to cope with the horrors he witnessed. Unfortunately, April cannot help her son, as she is dealing with her own demons. The trio find their lives forever transformed after Thad and Aiden witness the accidental death of their drug dealer.
VERDICT Readers of Southern grit lit will enjoy Joy's excellent sophomore outing (after Where All the Light Tends To Go), which is both dark and violent. Ron Rash aficionados will appreciate Joy's strong sense of place in his vivid depiction of rural Appalachia. [See Prepub Alert, 9/12/16.]
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