Saint Iggy

Iggy Corso lives in the projects with a stoned father and an addict mother who is AWOL again, but, amazingly, he uses no drugs, has no self-pity, and lives on hope. Suspended . . . again . . . he makes a plan to change people's opinions of him, get back in school, and make a better life. Stephen Hoye's Iggy speaks with precise enunciation, never employing contractions, like a person who knows he is not too smart but is trying hard to make sense of the world. But Iggy is an 18-year-old high school freshman from the projects of New York City, and Hoye uses the accent of a college graduate. In spite of this disparity, the powerful story, and Iggy himself, will haunt you long after the last syllable fades. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Starred review from October 30, 2006
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.

December 11, 2006
Going's haunting novel about an affable but troubled teenager looking for redemption has a powerful theme and a gritty New York City setting sure to grab the attention of listeners. Unfortunately, Hoye's inconsistent and inauthentic-sounding New York accent, and his odd pacing for some characters' exchanges, detract from this recording. Sixteen-year-old Iggy Corso—born to drug-addicted parents—has had a tough road, including being left back two years in high school and being essentially abandoned by his mother while his stoned father sleeps the days away. Short on both attention span and patience, he is suspended from school just before Christmas for what a teacher deems threatening behavior. With no support system to speak of, Iggy turns to a former tutor—the pot-smoking, philosophy-spouting law school dropout Mo—for help. In search of funds for his own growing drug habit, Mo brings Iggy with him to his wealthy parents' apartment—a place Mo detests, but where Iggy can bask in plenty and enjoy some sincere parental concern. Hoye harnesses an ominous sliminess for the voice of a drug dealer, but sounds less believable in the other roles. Despite these shortcomings, listeners will be hard-pressed not to be moved, or shocked, by this recording's end. Ages 14-up.