From Publishers Weekly
Brooks (What Hearts; The Moves Make the Man) takes an original approach to a traditionally macabre motif in this trilogy of stories. In all three selections, teens contend with the "remains" of a recently deceased loved one. The author opens with a black comedy: Aunt Judith has died of AIDS (the result of a one-night stand with a man), and her lesbian lover plus cousins Marie and Jonny, the narrator, must decide what to do with her body. The state wants her buried in a "special graveyard for the `unclean.' " However, determined to grant Judith's request for cremation, the three take matters into their own hands and, simultaneously, trick the authorities. In the final selection, also told with a light touch, Isabel isn't quite ready to part with her late father. She carries his ashes in a backpack until she meets three young men on a golf course who help her find the right time and place to let go of the past. In the most serious of the three, and perhaps the most well crafted, Hank has an altogether different problem to solve. He struggles to fulfill the promise he made to his dying uncle to look after his nerdy cousin (who Hank suspects is gay). The boys seem to have nothing in common at first, but Hank's perspective changes as Bobby's hidden talents begin to emerge. Although all of the tales center around a death, they are surprisingly life-affirming as they reveal the many faces of grief. The author's three distinct mood pieces join to create a unified requiem. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Gr 7 Up-In three stories, Brooks forays into new and challenging territory with what he calls "a more dicey aspect of my humor" and with "more peculiar subjects and shadows." Death, and the reaction to it, is at the heart of each narrative. In the title story, two cousins react to the death of their ostracized aunt by plotting with her partner, a ceramic artist, to have her cremated in defiance of state AIDS statutes. Her body, to be collected by state health workers, is substituted with the remains of a deer encased in a clay sarcophagus, while she is cremated in the artist's kiln. In "Playing the Creeps," Hank's uncle, on his deathbed, asks the teen to look after his son, Bobby, and to direct him toward more manly interests. In the process, Hank, ironically, begins to appreciate Bobby's talents, and in the end they blend their musical interests into an inspiring partnership. The final story, "Teeing Up," focuses on a girl trying to hold on to the memory of her father. Carrying his cremated remains in her backpack, she joins some boys in a round of golf. Their interactions, antagonistic at first, develop into a friendship as they convince her to leave his ashes in the sand traps. All three stories feature witty and interesting dialogue. The characters are well drawn and the stories are powerful, albeit a bit macabre and disturbing. Brooks challenges readers with an assortment of themes including loyalty, acceptance, friendship, and defiance of stereotypes.-Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UT
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
