Reviews provided by Syndetics
Publishers 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
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.
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
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.
Kirkus Book 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.