Tough and Tender

The Closest I've Come by Fred Aceves

New York, NY : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

310 p. ; 22 cm. 

I'm a sucker for a book with heart, and this novel had me pretty early on.  It's about a Latinx young man growing up poor in Tampa, Florida and struggling to find love, a way out of his impoverished neighborhood, and a way out of the restrictions of having to keep up a tough macho front.  He also is trying to survive a negligent alcoholic mother and her racist and abusive boyfriend who lives with and sponges off of them.

What are the things I especially liked about this book? I love that though Marcos, the main character, is smart and at times humorous, he is not constantly throwing out witty, hip comments and comebacks. In some YA books the protagonist feels like an attempt by the author to come up with a contemporary Holden Caulfield that doesn't ring true. In this novel, Marcos is so believable. He is also believable in his struggle to become a more authentic human being - we get glimpses of his true feelings through his inner thoughts and those feelings get expressed imperfectly (as they do with most people growing up).  I also love the romance (or desired romance) that forms a core of the novel.  It doesn't follow the conventional route in resolving itself and that is refreshing. I appreciated the portrayal of teachers in the book; they are not stereotyped as saviors or villains, but as people who have a tough job and can be really kind. The book also deals with race and cliques in ways that don't feel incredibly heavy handed or unrealistic.

I also love a book that bluntly reveals the struggles of being poor as just the matter of fact situation someone finds themselves in. Marcos just gets by with having to wear crummy shoes and just enough clean t-shirts to look good at school. One of his buddies - the academically most successful of the bunch - starts dealing drugs for an aunt in order to make more money - a decision that is treated realistically. Finally, I should mention that the book helpfully portrays the complicated situation a young person can find themselves  in when an adult in their household is physically and emotionally abusive.

Would I recommend The Closest I've Come? I definitely would. I think it would satisfy a lot of different kinds of readers.