Book #86: Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

I have had this book on my to-read list for forever, because I read one good review of it a long time ago. I have had it checked out from the library for a while, and finally got around to reading it. The book is set in 1987, right in the middle of the AIDS crisis in the U.S., with fourteen-year-old June Elbus dealing with the aftermath of her uncle's death from AIDS. Her uncle Finn was an amazing artist, and his last wish on earth was to paint a portrait of her and her sister Greta. June thinks that the painting is the only place where she and Greta can be together these days; although they used to be best friends, Greta has turned mean and worldly and doesn't seem to care about June any more. After Finn dies, June feels like she's lost the only person in her life who understands her, until his partner, Toby, reaches out to her.

June is one the most interesting and relatable characters I've read recently. She is only fourteen but she has spent a lot of time with her uncle and is fascinated by medieval times and wants to be a falconer, mainly because she is uncomfortable around other people, particularly kids her own age. You can't help but feel for her and be interested in what she's doing. She doesn't have any friends, unlike Greta, who is two years older, beautiful, popular, and an amazing singer. Greta and June were best friends for years, but I love how the story probes into how their relationship has fallen apart and where they lost their ability to communicate with each other. The book seems to be a lot about difficult and unrepaired relationships (June's mom and Finn, sister and brother, had a similar "falling-out" and the breach was never really repaired), and about the dangers of loving someone too much and losing grip on what was truly best for that person and for your relationship. The book also does a great job of creating the scene of what it was like for people at that time, not knowing really how AIDS was spread and being truly afraid of this scary, unknown disease. It sounds a little like the Ebola scare in the U.S. but a whole lot more widespread and long-lasting (since the Ebola talk has already died down a ton since a month ago). That was a really interesting part of the book.

Although I really liked the characters and themes, a lot of the time I was reading, I felt uncomfortable with the assumptions and actions that the characters were making. The whole storyline of June kind of being in love with her uncle, and then in love with Toby, just felt wrong and uncomfortable to me. (There was never anything inappropriate between them, but the age difference and relationships just made it feel really awkward to me.) It just felt weird to have June skipping school and going into New York City secretly without anyone knowing to go visit her uncle's old boyfriend, even if they weren't doing anything bad. I felt like I wanted to skip past all of that and just get to more about June and Greta and their relationship, and how they eventually ended up overcoming that.