This is probably one of the best YA novels I’ve read in the last year, and I read a lot of YA.
“Out here Mother Nature is my judge and jury, and no amount of objecting or redirecting or even being out of order will get me out of this. The only way to survive my sentence is to serve it.”
Wren is an angry, unhappy 14 year old who fell in with the wrong crowd at a new school. Drugs, sex, alcohol, shoplifting — out of options, her parents arrange for Wren’s middle of the night “kidnapping” by counselors of a wilderness therapy camp. And it’s pretty hardcore.
Van Draanen alternates between Wren’s present day experiences at “camp” in the Utah desert — digging a hole for a toilet, carrying all of her supplies on her back, and basically trekking across a mountain range — and what got her there. We watch Wren fall into bad decisions and dangerous situations while simultaneously seeing her climb up out of the hole she’s dug herself, and remake her life. All of this set against an amazing backdrop. The author’s descriptions of the Utah desert made me want to book a plane trip for my own camping trip (which would totally involve a vehicle).
It’s an incredible story. Wren is so well written — I couldn’t decide if I wanted to hug her or shake her for most of the novel — and the inside of her head rings so true. She’s furious with everyone, but realizes she has only herself to blame. Even the slightly mystical “quest” she goes on by herself didn’t make me roll my eyes. I wanted so badly for things to work out for her, as well as the other troubled girls in her camp. I just could not put this one down without seeing how it ended.