33 Snowfish

this was a really tough book ~ because that's what it's about. It doesn't hold back any punches. The kids are abused, addicts and delinquents. They commit crime after crime and just try to get by.

I loved it for it's brutal honesty and it's painful reality.

I also love that it leaves you hanging. All the questions aren't answered and all the issues aren't resolved or even fully discovered ~ and you never get one kid's point of view. I tend to see this trend more with adult books than YA books, but I think that is also a harsh reality too ~ you don't always get to know how things turn out. You just get to glimpse a piece of someone's tale and then their story goes one way, and yours goes another.

I don't know if I would ever recommend it to show more my daughter (this is certainly NOT her type of book) but it does have some nice tough things to talk about together. But, not really topics we would HAVE to cover at any time because she has grown up so different than these kids did. show less

Reviewed by Mark Frye, author and reviewer for TeensReadToo.com

Author and playwright Adam Rapp has created a masterful tale of woe in 33 SNOWFISH. With all of the trappings of "high literature" (there are stream-of-consciousness passages and multiple narrators), the author transcends the Problem Novel genre in this homage to Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING.

Like many of Faulkner's novels, 33 SNOWFISH depicts society's lowest, common denominator while somehow managing to make these characters three-dimensional and fairly sympathetic. They are at once repulsive and pitiful; the reader is drawn into their lives much like commuters passing by a car wreck. One cannot help but look or want to lend a hand.

This is the story of Custis, Curl, and show more Boobie, two teen runaways and one pre-teen. Each has a myriad of issues and a litany of anti-social behaviors that include pyromania, murder, prostitution, robbery, kidnapping, and weapons possession. We are dragged along on their ill-fated journey, where we learn about their past while watching them in the disastrous present. That the author finds a way to redeem one of the characters by the end of the story is a remarkable and credible feat.

Many reviewers issue a disclaimer about 33 SNOWFISH due to the lives of kids on the street being so graphically and dispassionately outlined. There are many adult themes and some profanity. This book is not for the squeamish. But neither is it a trite, formulaic, sensationalistic bombshell; every word, every paragraph, and every page is essential to the journey of these characters, even though only one meets an end that is appealing.

Rapp is to be commended for not "dumbing down" a story of the street for a wider readership. Many other young adult novels have a didactic message that is cumbersome and cliché, sounding a warning as loud as a tuba, leaving nothing for the reader to reflect upon. But 33 SNOWFISH is that rare book that is art for the sake of art, that makes the reader think for the message, that makes its audience reach for the gift of understanding, and the novel does it without wasting any words or pages.

Faulkner's fans and his detractors will appreciate this novel, as will young adult readers. Highly recommended. show less

I really think that this is a beautiful book. There is a great deal of offensive language and ideas in it, but the underlying nature of the story is really amazing. Custis is a lost boy, tough, but has come from nowhere. He made a 'family' with Boobie, a silent teen who killed his own parents and is trying to sell his baby brother, and Curl, a 15 year old prostitute. The whole story is desperate, and chronicles their individual viewpoints as they search for something better and comfort each other.

This is an intense book for a YA title. These three troubled youngsters have pasts that will never leave them. Their lives are filled with tragedy, uncertainty, brutality, and for one, redemption in the most unusual of people. The writing style is unique, the conversation is so accurate. While I found the story disturbing and haunting, I also found it touching and compelling. It is definitley meant for a much older teen reader, but it is surely a book that will stay with the reader for sometime.

Heartbreaking. Why did Boobie leave his parents? Why did he return to kill them and steal his baby brother? Was he protecting the brother or was he insane? He meets up with two other lost kids, Custis, a 12(maybe) year old boy who was abused and a girl who has been a prostitute and drug user. Together they can't manage a life, they are homeless and starving. The girl eventually dies from drugs (or lack thereof) and Boobie commits suicide (he rarely speaks and draws as a way to communicate his thoughts) Only Custis finds a home with an old Negro who catches him trying to steal his chicken. Custis and the baby, after a long struggle of trust, live with this man, is this a hopeful ending? I hope so...

I actually got about 40 pages from the end of this book, but I didn't feel like reading anymore. From the back of the book, I know that the end is probably pretty hopeful and uplifting, but I just couldn't stomach any more of the suffering I'd have to read through to get to that point. I guess this just isn't my kind of "young adult" novel.

Very intense, very edgy, with a frighteningly authentic voice. Great for readers who like to be disturbed.