The Wicker King - K. Ancrum

The Wicker King is a psychological young adult thriller that follows two friends struggling as one spirals into madness.

When August learns that his best friend, Jack, shows signs of degenerative hallucinatory disorder, he is determined to help Jack cope. Jack’s vivid and long-term visions take the form of an elaborate fantasy world layered over our own—a world ruled by the Wicker King. As Jack leads them on a quest to fulfill a dark prophecy in this alternate world, even August begins to question what is real or not.

August and Jack struggle to keep afloat as they teeter between fantasy and their own emotions. In the end, each must choose his own truth.

This book is another fantastic addition to the sub-genre of mindfuck fiction for young adults. While this is not an official marketing term (I don't know that it would go over well with schools or libraries) it is one that nevertheless perfectly encapsulates this style in the best possible way. Other similar titles I've reviewed include My Sister Rosa, The Lonely, Complicit, Replica, and the upcoming Genuine Fraud (review to come). I use this term with the utmost respect for the work of authors who are able to truly stretch imaginations and also cause us to emotionally disconnect from ourselves in some way. I think it's truly amazing.

The Wicker King is probably one of the queerest novels I've read this year, which is saying something considering that I'm on the Rainbow List and have been reading mostly LGBTQ books all year so far! What I think is truly unique about the text is that although there is really no explicit discussion of gay identity amongst the protagonists, August and Jack, their relationship is far beyond any typical male/male friendship bond. Every tough that is witnessed by the reader is emotionally charged and is likely to give the impression of a physical, if not entirely sexual connection (I'm including a few examples below, but not here, in case you don't want spoilers.)

The messiness of the novel also drew me in. There is no clean way of dealing with mental illness or hallucinations (if that's what they are). August wants to help Jack, but he doesn't trust adults (no wonder since his mother is entirely oblivious to everything that is happening in August's life), and the twins whose mother is a psychologist, are pushy and not exactly trustworthy in the ways that they approach both Jack and August to get help. But is August doing what is best for Jack? Or for himself? And what about if Jack is "cured"? What will that mean for August, who feels responsible for the Wicker King, as his knight in shining armour (at least, according to Jack's description.)

Ancrum's writing is beautiful. The back cover copy describes the style as micro-fiction. I suppose that works. I would call it vignettes. Either way, the novel is not told in any sort of linear or fully constructed fashion, but rather in small stories of no more than a few pages. As the novel moves forward, there is more smudging evident on the pages, and doodles. There are photos and legal forms and detention slips all dispersed throughout the narrative that add another layer of complexity and make the reader wonder what is real and what is not.

I got the end of the book, put it down, and Tweeted: "I don't know what I just read?!?" I hope this is how you feel too. And I hope it makes you wonder and question and feel unsure. I hope you can't get Jack and August out of your head. I hope you think hard about everything. I know some of you out there will read this and think, "Why did he tell me to read this?!" I do not apologize.

Recommended

(NOTE: This review is from an Advance Reading Copy - Out Oct. 2017)


* "When [Gordie] pulled him back roughly by his hair, August gasped, arching off the floor.
   She wasn't allowed to do that. No one did that except him [Jack]. He reached up a hand to pull her arm off him, but she swiveled her hips and it was too late.
   He fell. Groaning. Thinking of chapped lips, strong arms, and freckles."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Living - Matt De La Peña

Image
The Living  recently received an Honor from the Pura Belpré committee. The award recognizes of a work which best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth. As I was at the awards announcements, and having known people who served on the committee in the past, I was intrigued. I had read the winning title and the other honor titles, and was impressed with the choices. So here's my review of The Living : The novel begins with Shy, a young guy working for a snazzy cruise line, offering water to people on the Lido Deck of the ship to combat the heat. Everything is going pretty well until an older gentleman comes out and starts spouting of weird, disconcerting phrases: "You have seen the face of evil."Shy doesn't quite know what to think, so he moves on to a couple of ladies on the other side of the deck. Just as he's handing them their water bottles, he sees movement out of the corner of his eye and realizes the old guy h...
Read more

The Music of What Happens - Bill Konigsberg

Image
Max: Chill. Sports. Video games. Gay and not a big deal, not to him, not to his mom, not to his buddies. And a secret: An encounter with an older kid that makes it hard to breathe, one that he doesn't want to think about, ever. Jordan: The opposite of chill. Poetry. His "wives" and the Chandler Mall. Never been kissed and searching for Mr. Right, who probably won't like him anyway. And a secret: A spiraling out of control mother, and the knowledge that he's the only one who can keep the family from falling apart. Over the course of one summer, two boys will have to face their biggest fears and decide what they're willing to risk -- to get the thing they want the most. This is a phenomenal book, in my humble opinion. There aren't too many books dealing with male sexual abuse, particularly in YA. Sex and sexuality are messy parts of young adulthood, but what this book does really well is discuss consent and the ways in which physical cues can be misinte...
Read more

Girls Like Us - Gail Giles

Image
I have now gone out and made sure that I have all of the books longlisted for the National Book Award. I read and reviewed a number of these previously, so now I have five left to read and review. This is one of those five (but would I expect anything less from the fabulous team at Candlewick?) Girls Like Us  is a unique novel in a number of respects, most notably in the fact that both protagonists are identified (and self-identified) as mentally disabled in some way. Biddy has a learning disability that she was born with, while Quincy is a young girl who is disabled due to the fact that her mother's boyfriend hit her in the head with a brick, disfiguring her and damaging her brain. Once the two girls graduate from school, they move into a house together, becoming caregivers for both each other and an older woman, Elizabeth. The two must rely on each other for comfort, knowledge, and emotional strength, and Elizabeth manages to help them along the way. While I had moments of wo...
Read more