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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful read, September 24, 2006
There's something about Christmas in the city. The lights, the shopping, the darkness. December is the darkest month of the year. KL uses wonderful imagery to describe the life of Iggy, who you care and root for, but it is December, and Iggy is surrounded by darkness.
Yet, around every corner, a light.
It's refreshing to read a book where drugs play a role, but don't get a hundred pages in the protaganist's head or with his/her friends trying to decide what to do. For Iggy, there is no decision. The answer is simply no.
Having been born addicted to crack, he spent his whole life watching drugs destroy his parents. Now, as a teenager, he sees his worthless dad, strung out on the couch each day, and his mother - missing because she is possibly with the local dealer, Freddie.
Iggy wants to do something "good". After a misunderstanding at school in which Iggy's so called reputation causes a teacher to vastly misinterpret his intentions, Iggy is kicked out of school. But first he is given a lecture by the principal which sticks in his thoughts. Haunts him. Wakes him up to the world in which he is perceived, and makes him ache for an answer.
He doesn't have access to things others take for granted, namely money. World peace would not cross Iggy's mind. In his world, he imagines himself saving a kid from a drug dealer. Or, perhaps he could simply find his mother, and with her, the world itself would be good once again.
So, Iggy forms a plan...
Iggy Corso is one of the most detailed characters I've ever read. I would swear if I were to visit the city I would find him walking down the street, or sitting at the barber's getting his hair cut.
This book isn't the typical teeny bop pink fantasy. It's a rare literary masterpiece for the teen market. I hope it gets the attention and the audience it deserves.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, August 29, 2006
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 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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable and entertaining read, January 4, 2007
Randy "Igmund" Corso is a third-year freshman with a colorful track record at school. When you have a record like he does, teachers can lie about you, and no one believes you, especially not the court system that's supposed to decide if you're expelled from school or not. With the way everyone treats him, you'd think he's a bad kid, but he's not. He attends class, sometimes. He doesn't use drugs, even though he was born addicted. He does his best to stay away from his father's drug dealer Freddie, who is always knocking on their door looking for money.
With his dad most likely passed out drunk or high at home and his mom "visiting someone" somewhere, Iggy doesn't have anyone to tell when he gets indefinitely suspended from high school for an offense he didn't commit. Even the social worker can't get through because the phone has been disconnected.
With a few days until the hearing, Iggy turns to his friend Montell, a law school dropout from the rich side of town who is investing his time in pot and philosophy. Iggy needs a plan to straighten out his life, but that's more difficult done than said for a 16-year-old with no skills or money who has just been kicked out of school. His makeshift plan is to:
1) make a plan
2) get out of the projects
3) do something with my life
4) change everyone's mind about me
5) get back into school
During the week before Christmas, Iggy drags himself around the city looking for answers and enlightenment. He keeps thinking about his principal, who told him to "do something that contributes to the world." That seems like such an easy thing to do until he tries it.
How exactly can one kid do something to contribute? What if he's never had any examples to follow? What if the only differences he can make are too small for anyone to notice? And does it even matter if people notice?
Author of the Printz Honor Book FAT KID RULES THE WORLD, K. L. Going has put together another enjoyable read. The contrast of Iggy's dark urban world against Mo's posh lifestyle provides the story with an ideal backdrop for a grim hero like this to emerge. An entertaining novel with more depth than you'd imagine at first glance, SAINT IGGY takes the life of a fringe-living outcast from the projects and makes him someone unforgettable.
--- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens
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