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Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In her most impressive achievement yet, Going (Fat Kid Rules the World) gets inside the mind of a teenager who has fallen between the cracks and, facing his options, knows he's "shit out of luck." Like the narrator of Chris Lynch's Inexcusable, 16-year-old Iggy Corso is an unreliable narrator whose account of events clashes with what readers know of how the world works. The brilliance of the novel is the way in which Iggy's perceptions call into question readers' own sense of society's structure and inner workings. Born of an addicted mother and living in New York City public housing with his parents (both addicts), Iggy knows that a high school education is his only means of escape. Yet he faces expulsion for "acting out" in class. He knows he needs to come up with a "How-to-Change-Everyone's-Mind-About-Me plan," so he can attend a hearing and get back into school. When Mo, his only friend, scores some drugs on credit from Freddie, the drug dealer whom Iggy blames for his parents' addiction, the author fluidly juxtaposes the two friends' realms. Mo, who is "renouncing" his Upper East Side life, heads home to get the money for the drugs from his mother and takes Iggy with him. Some humorous scenes of Iggy interacting with the Park Avenue crowd demonstrate what a fish out of water he is. Yet, when Mo believes that all can be fixed up with Freddie easily, their roles shift and Iggy reigns as the expert in the world of New York's underbelly. The adults here are just as well-drawn as the teens; a sympathetic principal, cop and priest, as well as Mo's mother, all help pave the way for Iggy's internal growth. The book delivers a powerful anti-drug story without being preachy, and in perhaps the book's greatest strength, the events remain painfully authentic to Iggy's circumstances. Readers will be rooting for Iggy as he performs his ultimate heroic deed. Ages 14-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(High School) The author returns to the gritty New York City setting of her first YA novel, the Printz Honor book Fat Kid Rules the World (rev. 7/03). Faced with probable expulsion from school, sixteen-year-old Iggy comes up with a ""Change-Everyone's-Mind-About-Me plan."" The odds are stacked against him, though: home is the projects, his parents are drug addicts, and Mo, his only friend (a dope-smoking college dropout), gets in deep trouble with a drug dealer-the same dealer responsible for keeping Iggy's dad stoned and his mom on meth. The religious imagery in Going's novel isn't subtle, but it's not heavy-handed either. Iggy is indeed saintlike, holding few grudges against the world despite his circumstances, and trying as best he can to follow his principal's admonition to ""do something that contributes to the world."" Iggy finds the mother figure he's never even dreamed of when he meets Mo's mom-a wealthy woman whose love for her son is painfully unrequited. Despite careful foreshadowing, readers will still be surprised by the heart-wrenching ending; one can only hope that Iggy's selflessness will cause sinner Mo to repent and change his ways. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
When he is suspended from high school for an altercation with a teacher, Iggy feels completely misunderstood. As he waits for the hearing that will decide whether he will be expelled, he vows to change everyone's perception of him by following his principal's advice: "Do something that contributes to the world." Expecting no support from his drug-addicted mother and "stoned off his ass" father, Iggy turns to a former tutor and friend, Mo, a college dropout interested in pot and Eastern religions. Then Mo's own drug habit escalates. With Iggy tagging along, Mo heads to his wealthy parents' apartment for money, and in Mo's mother, Iggy finds the parental care he craves. Readers will want to talk about the shocking ending and its religious imagery, which raises questions about martyrdom, class politics, and the many ways that children can slip away from help. Going, the author of the Printz Honor Book Fat Kid Rules the World 0 (2003), grounds her story in grim, realistic urban details, and she creates a memorable character in Iggy, whose first-person voice is earnest, angry, sarcastic, and filled with small insights that reveal how people care for and mistreat each other. Teens will connect with Iggy's powerful sense that although he notices everything, he is not truly seen and accepted himself. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2006 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Iggy Corso, 16, doesn't do drugs, even though he was born addicted to crack. He lives in a city housing project, in an apartment filled with furniture that his stoned and drunken father collects from the street. Iggy's mother is an addict who has been AWOL for a month. The cool thing about the teen is that, despite his parents and his environment, he doesn't feel sorry for himself. A freshman who has failed two grades and been suspended eight times, he takes things for what they are, until he gets suspended again, pending a hearing. His principal says to him, "You've had a lot to overcome...but....We can all...do something that contributes...." After listening to this, Iggy realizes that his only chance for the future is to get back into school. The principal's statement haunts him throughout the book. He enlists help from his so-called mentor/friend, Mo (who was suspended from pre-law school after being caught smoking pot), but his association with this disaffected youth from a wealthy family creates a whole new set of problems. Thick pencil lines run down the inner margins of the pages; Iggy's life is like these lines, on the edge, reaching out, searching for somewhere to go. The story is told in widely spaced paragraphs, making it a good choice for reluctant readers. Like Troy Billings in Going's Fat Kid Rules the World (Putnam, 2003), Iggy Corso is unforgettable.-Shannon Seglin, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
This charmer, set just before Christmas, will haunt readers long after experiencing the final pages. Iggy, a 16-year-old freshman, is about to get kicked out of high school permanently, pending a hearing. Iggy recognizes that he needs a legal guardian and legal representation to accompany him, but he will have neither. His parents are druggies and his meth-addicted mother has been missing for weeks. Iggy decides that he needs a plan to show the world what he's really made of. He finds Mo, his supposed mentor, a college dropout who's renounced all material goods. Short on funds, Mo decides to buy drugs on credit--from the same dealer who supplies Iggy's parents--and then takes Iggy to his wealthy mother's apartment to ask for money. Here, Iggy's plan gels and all readers are left to do is hang on for the incredible ride. Wild plot twists combined with Iggy's endearing narration will keep turning pages and readers cheering this strangely heroic anti-hero. (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
1. So I got kicked out So I got kicked out of school today, which is not so great but also not entirely unexpected, and I went back to Public Housing where I live to tell my parents all about it but my mom went visiting someone or other and probably isn't coming back and my dad is stoned off his ass on the couch like he always is, so somehow I'm not getting the vibe that he'd really, you know, care, so I think, Here's what I'm going to do: First I've got to make a plan. And this is part of the plan--making a plan--so really I'm doing good already. If my dad was awake part of the plan would be telling him about the trouble at school so he would know it was not entirely my fault. This is how it happened: Me (coming in late to Spanish class because I followed a hot new girl) : Can I sit here? Mrs. Brando (confused) : I think you have the wrong classroom. Me (correctly) : No, I'm in this class. Mrs. Brando (really patronizing) : Son, it is December and I have not seen you in this class even once before, so I don't know what classroom you are looking for. Are you new here, too? Me (being real patient) : Nooo, I am in this class and if you'd just check your list from the beginning of the year you'd see that. (under my breath really freaking quietly) Bitch. Mrs. Brando (flipping out) : Are you threatening me? Do you have a weapon? Are you on drugs? Someone get the principal. Call security. Help! Help! Help! Then all the other teachers come in because they think I'm going to pull a Columbine, and everyone's asking what happened only no one's asking me and in Mrs. Brando's version of it, I moved like I was going to hit her or maybe pull something out of my jacket, and even though hitting someone and pulling something out of your jacket require two totally different hand motions, the one being an up and out motion and the other being a down and in motion, no one comes to my defense and instead everyone in the classroom nods in agreement with Mrs. Brando's story and you would think they didn't know me all these years, the traitors. Then the security guy pushes my face into the concrete wall, and after that he drags me to the principal's office and Principal Olmos talks to me for a long time. "Remember how you wanted to drop Spanish for metal shop?" he asks, tapping his desk. I don't remember. "Do you remember?" I look at the ceiling and the floor and the walls. "Did you think about your actions before you went into that classroom?" I thought about the hot new girl. Principal Olmos shakes his head. "Don't be silent now," he tells me. "The only time you cease talking is when you should be making an attempt to better yourself--participating in class, for example, or explaining your actions, which frankly, are largely incomprehensible." I wonder why I am incomprehensible because everything I do makes perfect sense to me. "Umm," I start, "'cause, see, I was just going in there to learn some Spanish because I changed my mind about things and I wasn't going to hit anyone--Mrs. Brando is just an old . . . uhh, teacher, and . . ." Principal Olmos holds up one hand. "Actually," he says, taking a deep breath, "it's too late." He shakes his head again. "It's time to start thinking about your future outside of this high school. Mrs. Brando wants to file serious charges--charges that should warrant police involvement . . ." He looks me right in the eye like I am going D-O-W-N, then he breaks the look. "But we're not going to go that route," he says. "I'll speak to Mrs. Brando about not involving the police, but that's the best I can do. I'm afraid I'll be recommending to the school superintendent that your time at Carver High be terminated." Now my eyes get big, because what does he mean--terminated? "There will be a hearing within the next five days to officially determine your status. If your parents wish to hire an attorney, of course they are welcome to do so, but given your past suspensions, your disciplinary history, the number of times you've had detention this year alone, and of course the incident with the spray painting, I think the outcome is virtually certain." I think, Oh, so terminated means "over." And it is not like I didn't see this coming, but this time I can tell it is real so my mind wanders and I start thinking how the girl wasn't even that hot and my parents will never show up to a hearing and what will I amount to anyway? ". . . tried to contact your parents," Principal Olmos is saying, "but as usual we can't reach them . . ." I could beg. ". . . can't tolerate the threat of violence in schools these days . . ." I could offer him money, only I don't have any. ". . . clearly not suited for this environment. Perhaps a technical school . . ." Maybe I will say I was on drugs so they will decide to help me, only this may not work because I already have a social worker and everyone thinks I am on drugs even though I'm not, and it has not helped me once yet. "Are you listening?" I look up and Principal Olmos is looking like he feels sorry about everything, so I don't say any of the things I thought about saying and I don't even beg for mercy. I just sit there thinking how I screwed up again and that's when I want to fucking cry, or maybe hit someone, because even though I am not so great a student, I am not harmful and if they gave me another chance I would do okay, I swear. Then Principal Olmos looks at me for a long time, and finally he sighs and says, "Honestly, I believe you're a good kid." He leans across his desk. "Lots of people around here don't think that, but I do," he says. "You've had a lot to overcome in your life, but that's no excuse for poor discipline. We can all make something of ourselves, no matter what our situation. We can do something that contributes to the world, live a life that has meaning. Do you believe that?" I've never thought about meaning--not even once--but I nod because, okay, whatever. Principal Olmos stands up and closes my folder. "You'll have to stay here until the end of the school day while we continue trying to contact your parents. If we can't reach them I'll have the social worker come by your house to deliver an official letter stating you have out-of-school suspension pending a hearing." He pauses. "I'm . . . sorry." He reaches out to shake my hand like we are both adults and I am not a kid or a student anymore, and that's when it hits me that I am on my own, which is scary because even though I'm sixteen I am only a freshman and that is too soon to get kicked out. Plus, I have no skills, and if you do not graduate high school and you have no skills then you are shit out of luck. So I decide that Principal Olmos is wrong about the hearing and even though he thinks it is a done deal I will make a plan. And the kind of plan I will make is a How-to-Change-Everyone's-Mind-About-Me plan since Principal Olmos is the only one who thinks I am a decent guy, but really, I am not so bad a person once you get to know me. Copyright (c) 2006 by K. L. Going All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be submitted online at www.harcourt.com/contact or mailed to the following address: Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777. Excerpted from Saint Iggy by K. L. Going All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
