Uses for Boys
Erica Lorraine Scheidt
St. Martin’s Griffin, Jan 15, 2013, $9.99
ISBN: 9781250007117
Anna loved life with her single mom when she constantly would ask the “tell-me-again times” and be reassured that her mother only wanted a single girl, her. However, when she turned eight, Anna learns she is too old for fairy tales as her mom seeks her next husband. Deserted in plain sight in a world she no longer understands, Anna proves a chip off the maternal block as she obsesses over a psychological need to belong. She uses sex to make boys her surrogate family. A boy rapes her and she drops out of school to the taunts of slut from her peers. Still a teen, Anna moves in with her latest boyfriend. Anna meets and envies Toy, whose boys are much nicer than those in her life. When she meets Sam and his family, Anna knows what she wants in life is not the Uses of Boys, but the love of a caring “tribe” like she once had when she was very young with her mom.
This is a deep decade in the life of a child-teen using an inner strength to survive her feelings of maternal abandonment. Anna is a wonderful individual who goes from adored child to surviving slut to caring about people. Readers, especially teens, will appreciate Anna’s captivating coming of age tale realizing the importance of looking past derogatory labels into the heart and soul of others.
Harriet Klausner
Erica Lorraine Scheidt
St. Martin’s Griffin, Jan 15, 2013, $9.99
ISBN: 9781250007117
Anna loved life with her single mom when she constantly would ask the “tell-me-again times” and be reassured that her mother only wanted a single girl, her. However, when she turned eight, Anna learns she is too old for fairy tales as her mom seeks her next husband. Deserted in plain sight in a world she no longer understands, Anna proves a chip off the maternal block as she obsesses over a psychological need to belong. She uses sex to make boys her surrogate family. A boy rapes her and she drops out of school to the taunts of slut from her peers. Still a teen, Anna moves in with her latest boyfriend. Anna meets and envies Toy, whose boys are much nicer than those in her life. When she meets Sam and his family, Anna knows what she wants in life is not the Uses of Boys, but the love of a caring “tribe” like she once had when she was very young with her mom.
This is a deep decade in the life of a child-teen using an inner strength to survive her feelings of maternal abandonment. Anna is a wonderful individual who goes from adored child to surviving slut to caring about people. Readers, especially teens, will appreciate Anna’s captivating coming of age tale realizing the importance of looking past derogatory labels into the heart and soul of others.
Harriet Klausner
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