The Kid

May 2, 2011
Fifteen years and an Oscar-nominated movie adaptation have passed by since Push, and, with Precious long dead, Sapphire unfurls the story of her son, Jamal Abdul Louis Jones. Orphan Jamal winds up at a foster home where he's mocked and beaten to the point of having to be hospitalized. Fast forward, and Abdul, going by the name J.J., is at the St. Ailanthus School for boys, where he's sexually abused by priests and in turn sexually abuses a couple of boys at the school. When J.J. is thrown out of the school, he struggles to handle his own conflicting desires and the rigors of getting by in a tough world by himself, often with very little comprehension of consequences. J.J. is a great creation, if a sometimes frustrating one: Sapphire excels at getting readers into the head of a frightened, enraged, and frustrated wild child, but that isn't always the best vantage point from which to watch this heartbreaking story unfold. This is a sobering and unflinching study of the legacy of abuse, and while the narration can leave readers more puzzled than piqued, it's a harrowing story.

When we first meet 9-year-old Abdul at the funeral of his mother, Precious, he's dear and sweet. He doesn't believe she's dead of AIDS because he still talks to her in his head. Author Sapphire skillfully narrates this stream-of-consciousness story. In presenting Abdul, she excels at spotlighting the shocking contrast between his boyhood self and the young man he becomes. After he enters foster care, he loses his innocence, is abused, and becomes an abuser. Abdul's story is painful--almost unbearable--and mostly it's an accurate portrait of those who slip through the cracks of an unforgiving system. This isn't a male version of PRECIOUS because it's without joy or even a ray of hope. The abrupt conclusion fits the storytelling style and suggests a sequel. S.G.B. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine