33 Snowfish
by Adam Rapp

    33 SNOWFISH by Adam Rapp
    Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  2/14/06
    Publisher:  Candlewick
    Reviewed by:  Mark Frye, author and reviewer
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Author and playwright Adam Rapp has created a masterful tale of woe in 33 SNOWFISH. With all of the trappings
    of “high literature” (there are stream-of-consciousness passages and multiple narrators), the author transcends the
    Problem Novel genre in this homage to Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING.

    Like many of Faulkner's novels, 33 SNOWFISH depicts society's lowest, common denominator while somehow
    managing to make these characters three-dimensional and fairly sympathetic. They are at once repulsive and pitiful; the
    reader is drawn into their lives much like commuters passing by a car wreck. One cannot help but look or want to lend
    a hand.

    This is the story of Custis, Curl, and Boobie, two teen runaways and one pre-teen. Each has a myriad of issues and a
    litany of anti-social behaviors that include pyromania, murder, prostitution, robbery, kidnapping, and weapons
    possession. We are dragged along on their ill-fated journey, where we learn about their past while watching them in
    the disastrous present. That the author finds a way to redeem one of the characters by the end of the story is a
    remarkable and credible feat.

    Many reviewers issue a disclaimer about 33 SNOWFISH due to the lives of kids on the street being so graphically
    and dispassionately outlined. There are many adult themes and some profanity. This book is not for the squeamish. But
    neither is it a trite, formulaic, sensationalistic bombshell; every word, every paragraph, and every page is essential to
    the journey of these characters, even though only one meets an end that is appealing.

    Rapp is to be commended for not “dumbing down” a story of the street for a wider readership. Many other young
    adult novels have a didactic message that is cumbersome and cliché, sounding a warning as loud as a tuba, leaving
    nothing for the reader to reflect upon. But 33 SNOWFISH is that rare book that is art for the sake of art, that makes
    the reader think for the message, that makes its audience reach for the gift of understanding, and the novel does it
    without wasting any words or pages.

    Faulkner's fans and his detractors will appreciate this novel, as will young adult readers. Highly recommended.  Gold
    award.