Under the Wolf, Under the Dog

This is a quite interesting YA book by Adam Rapp, who is also a playwright and movie director. Steve Nugent is in an institution for teens who have mental health problems – either addicts or attempted suicides. He’s writing a journal as part of his healing process, covering where he started – in a school for the gifted – to where he ends up, in the institution. While it’s not really new stuff, there’s something about the writing that really draws you in; probably the casual nature of it. He loses his mum to cancer, his brother to suicide, takes some drugs (and you almost feel as stoned as he is during those parts) and ends up walking the streets and then poking his own eye out. While this seems sad material – and there’s no resolution to it all, except he falls in love with another girl in the centre – it is more thought-provoking than really depressing. It’s a portrait rather than a journey (although perhaps it’s supposed to be a journey – I’m not sure) and it’s a good one.