Saint Iggy

In Saint Iggy, Iggy Corso gets kicked out of school--suspended, really, but the hearing's on Friday and it could be permanent--for trying to get back into a class that he'd dropped earlier in the semester. He turns to his mentor, Mo, who after scoring a mishmash of drugs on credit, takes Iggy back to his mother's apartment. Mo's mother offers to help Iggy, while Mo decides to exploit Iggy's situation to try to get $2000 to pay off Freddie, the dealer. All while this is going on, Iggy's trying to figure out what he can to to "contribute," to show that he's a good person and should be let back into school. It's kind of a "what am I doing with my life" theme, but it's more goal-oriented than that--Iggy wants to get back into school, show more desperately--but then he makes a different choice, and decides there's another way for him to "contribute." K.L.Going has created a quality character here; he's a little unbelievably naive and the reader may find herself bemoaning the choices Iggy makes--you can see the unhappy ending coming from a mile off. However, Going's created a world for Iggy that he fits seamlessly into. One plot feature that was interesting--Iggy doesn't use drugs. He's like a DARE ambassador, showing the reader all the evils that come from drug abuse. I've rated it 4 stars out of 5, because while it was a good read, there was something about the book that didn't feel realistic--after trying so hard to craft a realistic look at poverty, Going switches to a depiction of the ultra-wealthy, and it just falls flat. Nonetheless, recommended for purchase for teen collections at the public library. School libraries may want to exercise caution because of the heavy drug use, but nothing is overly graphic. Would be appropriate for upper secondary school students. show less

Fundamentally, Iggy is a good kid--despite the fact his mother is a meth addict and has gone "visiting" and probably won't return, despite the fact his father is an alcoholic and an addict, despite the fact that they live in the projects and there is no food and Iggy sleeps on a sofa his dad found in the trash, despite the fact Iggy is about to be expelled. Only Principal Olmos sees potential in Iggy and Iggy comes up with a plan to change everyone else's mind about him. This is a realistic, totally compelling book about poverty, choices, and redemption. (Spoiler alert: it does not have a happy ending)

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Iggy Corso isn't a bad kid. He's not that bright, and he often does and says things long before thinking through the consequences of his actions, but he isn't inherently bad. Iggy is the product of his upbringing, which includes an alcoholic father, a junkie mother, and life in the projects. His school file is crammed with notations regarding his run-ins with security, teachers, and the principal. But this time, Iggy's been expelled from high school pending a hearing with the Superintendent, and there's no one around for him to tell--no one around, in fact, to even care.

Iggy, though, has a plan. He'll contribute to the world, will somehow make a difference in these few short days before Christmas and show more his school hearing, and convince everyone--from his parents to Principal Olmos--that they were wrong about him. The first part of Iggy's plan involves getting out of the Projects, so he goes to the only other place he knows, which is the dump where his friend Mo lives. Mo was kicked out of college, where he was studying pre-law, for smoking pot, and now he lives in an apartment with a broken window and ratty furniture, alternately stoned and renouncing all material hings. But Iggy needs Mo's help to get him back into school, so he follows him along when Mo decides to get a line of credit on some pot.

Iggy doesn't do drugs. Everything thinks he does, because of his home life, but being born addicted to crack did more to Iggy than just slow down his brain. He's seen firsthand how it affects his family, especially his mother, who has been gone for months now "visiting" someone. He's seen Freddie, his father's dealer, break his father's fingers when his dad didn't have the money to pay for his drugs. So although Iggy doesn't do drugs, he goes along with Mo when he needs some pot--and realizes that his plan isn't going very well when Mo goes straight to Freddie. When Mo gets his pot, along with some other "free samples" on a line of credit, Iggy realizes that getting back into school might be the least of his problems.

But now it's Mo's turn for a plan--he needs a couple grand to pay off Freddie, so he'll go to his mother, who has more money than she knows what to do with. But that doesn't turn out exactly right, either, and soon Iggy is involved in yet another scheme involving drugs, a dealer, and a friend. For Iggy, who isn't a bad kid but also isn't Mother Teresa, there's a fine line between contributing to the world and making something of yourself.

SAINT IGGY is a great, heartbreaking read. From the beginning, you can't help but wish a better life for Iggy, all the while knowing, somehow, that things aren't going to end up the way you want them to. Iggy is a boy who has somehow fallen through the cracks, and yet he manages to bring a sense of hope to every situation he finds himself in. Ms. Going has done a wonderful job of bringing Iggy Corso to life, and you'll be forever grateful for the chance of getting to know him. show less

Many readers are not aware of the ESP award. Previous winners are A Room on Lorelei Street by Mary Pearson and Heck Superhero by Martine Leavitt. Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting is the book that inspired the ESP award. This year a retrospective award was given to the late Carol Fenner for King of Dragons. What is the ESP award? It is the book that is published each year that strikes the cord of honesty and is also the book that comes closest to being my autobiography. Saint Iggy is this year’s winner of the Ed Spicer Personal book award!

I am not a crack baby, but Iggy’s dysfunctional family that did not attend school functions, rings a cord. My mother did not abandon me, but for many years she was in denial about my father’s show more addiction to alcohol. Like Iggy, I am consumed with “plans” and about doing something important with my life. Unlike Iggy, I have probably not said anything as beautiful as: “Maybe it comes from a color circle, where you can see the world in every single color. Then when you step out again, nothing looks the same as it did when you went in.” (p. 154). Iggy says this when he realizes that how we view people and the world depends on our own experiences. Adults almost (Olmos) help us; maybe they even help with details, but our own synthesis of how the world works is ours alone. Like many teens, Iggy falls victim to peer pressure. In Iggy’s case, it is his friend Mo. Mo is from a wealthy family, but he is rebelling against his family, especially his lawyer father. Mo believes that Iggy’s world holds truths that his materialistic parents just cannot see. Mo decides that the world would be better if people renounce the wasteful, consumeristic approach to living—like the world Iggy knows. Iggy is smart enough to conclude that Mo doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know. Mo is clueless when it comes to evaluating Iggy’s world, a place that Iggy must stay because he does not have that rich family to bail him out. Saint Iggy pokes at the sores in our society: Social workers who have no clue about the kids or neighborhoods in which they live, schools and administrations who have too many students to probe deeply (despite being decent, multi-layered characters like Mr. Olmos); and families that refuse to see obvious truths like drug addiction. It is a book that is popular with teens and it is a book that is filled with fundamental truth, an ESP winner! Congratulations Ms Going! show less

This book has such a strong sense of character--that "voice" is really compelling. It's a fast read, and I like it that here and there a line would jump out at me and really pull me into the book emotionally. I was a bit disappointed with the ending, though it had a lot of potential and some interesting imagery.

Iggy is a very sympathetic character, one of those for whom everything that can go wrong does go wrong. The novel does get bogged slightly in the typical YA dramatic melodrama, but Going creates a very believeable character in Iggy with a great, strong voice.

Iggy Corso gets kicked out of school for doing one more wrong thing, despite his good intentions. His "mentor," Mo, agrees to help him make something of his life, so he leaves his substance-addicted parents (who barely notice he's gone) and his apartment in the projects in search of anything that will make his life better.
Although I didn't love this book as much as I loved Fat Kid Rules the World, it is a very good YA read. Iggy is heartbreakingly innocent, despite his horrific life, so it's easy to root for him throughout the book, even if you know his good intentions will probably amount to nothing.