Justin Tate's Reviews > Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Despite the buzz, I wasn't expecting much. The plot description--a cool uncle with AIDS inspires his niece to discover herself--sounded like a total bore. It sounded like something I'd have to pry my eyes open to finish. Glad I went against my gut, because it turned out to be just the opposite. I couldn't put it down!

Though this is her first novel, Brunt writes like a career veteran. Her prose is both simple and beautiful. It never gets in the way of the story and is only flowery when it counts. I lost myself in the lines from the first sentence. It’s one of those books where you forget you’re reading and just dissolve into the characters’ lives.

There’s a lot of art to appreciate, both literally and figuratively. Like a painting, Uncle Finn and AIDS is always there, in the background, shaping the characters, and maybe even observing them, but it's brilliantly designed this way to set-up a richly woven plot soaking in metaphor. There's certainly a direct story that is engaging throughout, but there’s also a second tier story hidden between the lines.

If you read carefully—and don’t worry, Brunt makes this easy to do—you can focus on the “negative space” and start to experience the multi-dimensional quality of the plot. I read a lot of books, and this is probably the most intricately woven novel I’ve ever come across that can be enjoyed in a mainstream, easy-reading sort of way.

[Update] I can’t believe it’s been 7 years since this was published! Where is Carol Rifka Brunt? No second book on the horizon yet. I know it’s got to be tough to deliver any sort of follow-up to this masterpiece, but I really hope she has more to share with the world. Tell the Wolves I’m Home remains on my personal list of Top 100 Books of All Time.