The Closest I've Come

Reviewed by: Brooke Faulkner - McArthur Library, Biddeford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 13, 2018

Review

This smart, poignant, often funny debut novel tells the contemporary story of Marcos, a sophomore at his high school in Tampa, who is selected by his teachers to take part in a program for bright students who they think are academically under-performing.

Though he has a tight knit group of friends from his vividly described poor neighborhood, Marcos is constantly dodging the abuse of his mother's boyfriend at home and his withdrawn, unhappy mom displays an achingly sad indifference to her son. In the new program at school, Marcos meets tough, punk Amy, for whom he falls hard, and Zach, an aspiring actor with his own difficulties at home, who Marcos is surprised to find becomes a friend. Marcos himself is multi-dimensional, sympathetic and portrayed authentically as struggling, sometimes messily, to figure himself out in a world that has made him painfully aware of its myriad injustices and his many insights about this will keep readers firmly in his corner all the way to the satisfying realistic conclusion.

A unique and moving coming-of-age story that is not to be missed.

Overall Book Score: excellent