Andrew Joseph White (The Spirit Bares Its Teeth) opens his third YA novel, Compound Fracture, with an unapologetically grisly account of a riot and a murder. What follows is a volatile, compelling mystery about an autistic transmasculine teen in a poor town in West Virginia who fights to reclaim his family's radical legacy.
Sixteen-year-old Miles Abernathy's world shatters when he obtains photos proving that Sheriff Davies intentionally caused the car wreck that traumatized Miles's father, killed a friend, and badly burned another. "The Davieses have a way of doing things.... They'll pull the trigger or bring down the hammer. End you just like that." It is unsurprising, then, that when Davies's son and his cronies discover Miles has the photos, they beat Miles and leave him for dead. Miles wakes in the hospital, the disfigured, soot-covered spirit of his great-great-grandfather looming over his bed.
The Abernathys have been fighting for justice for decades. Miles's great-great-grandfather led a coal miners' labor riot and was viciously murdered by a member of the Davies clan. After Miles is released from the hospital, he accidentally kills one of the boys who hurt him and reignites the generations-old war. Miles can suppress the truth or speak out and risk calamity.
White makes Miles a convincing product of his upbringing through candid, often gruesome, first-person narration punctuated by text exchanges. Miles prefers the company of his dog, Lady, to that of other humans and prefers suffering in silence over asking for help, as when he secretly stops taking his prescribed opioids and goes through withdrawal. At the same time, Miles adapts to his newly public trans identity and grapples with his sexuality. It's his slow-to-reveal vulnerability and trust in others--his parents, childhood friend Dallas, and local activist Amber--that render him whole.
The author portrays emotional trauma and physical scars as metaphors for the enduring tenacity among exploited poor and queer communities. "The fact that you're poor and scared and covered in blood is politics, and don't let anyone convince you otherwise," Miles thinks. White explores the violent realities of capitalism and transphobia while simultaneously celebrating the resilience and collective strength of the committed working class. He also weaves a tragic, beautiful thread through the tapestry of Compound Fracture, describing Miles's examination of his communist political leanings and paralleling it with his ancestor's path. This book will almost certainly leave readers battered, bruised, and inspired. --Kieran Slattery, freelance reviewer, teacher, co-creator of Gender Inclusive Classrooms
Shelf Talker: This unapologetically gruesome story of a trans Appalachian teen channeling strength to preserve his family's legacy amidst intergenerational trauma has the power to leave readers profoundly changed.