Compound Fracture
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Description
A queer Appalachian thriller that pulls no punches—following a trans autistic teen who's drawn into the generational struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them.
The INSTANT New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestselling novel from award-winning author Andrew Joseph White!
The limited-quantity first printing of this powerful novel features specially-designed endpapers with photos of West Virginia coal mines from The Library of Congress!
On the night Miles Abernathy—sixteen-year-old socialist and proud West Virginian—comes out as trans to his parents, he sneaks off to a party, carrying evidence that may finally turn the tide of the blood feud plaguing Twist Creek: Photos that prove the county’s Sheriff Davies was responsible for the so-called “accident” that injured his dad, killed others, and crushed their grassroots efforts to unseat him.
The feud began a hundred years ago when Miles’s great-great-grandfather, Saint Abernathy, incited a miners’ rebellion that ended with a public execution at the hands of law enforcement. Now, Miles becomes the feud’s latest victim as the sheriff’s son and his friends sniff out the evidence, follow him through the woods, and beat him nearly to death.
In the hospital, the ghost of a soot-covered man hovers over Miles’s bedside while Sheriff Davies threatens Miles into silence. But when Miles accidently kills one of the boys who hurt him, he learns of other folks in Twist Creek who want out from under the sheriff’s heel. To free their families from this cycle of cruelty, they’re willing to put everything on the line—is Miles?
A visceral, unabashedly political page-turner that won’t let you go until you’ve reached the end, Compound Fracture is not for the faint of heart, but it is for every reader who's ready to fight for a better world. Hand this story to teens pushing for radical change.
Instant New York Times bestseller
Instant USA Today Bestseller
Instant Indie Bestseller
Named to the ALA Rainbow Book List
A Kids’ Indie Next Selection
Named a Best Book of the Year by Paste Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Shelf Awareness and more!
A Booklist Editors’ Choice: Books for Youth
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Recipient
A Children’s Book Council Young Adult Favorite & Teachers’ Favorite
Book Information
Characteristics
1 reviews
Mood
Protagonist(s)
Pace
Writing Style
Posts
Yeah I nearly missed a meeting for this. This book is one of the most political reads of my year and I want to tell that everyone who assumes that Young Adult cannot be that political. This one is. Not only because the main character is trans, autistic and aromantic (and only aware of one of these), but also because Miles is a socialist and this is bascially the story about a bloody feud between two families. This book is rather a political thriller with body horror elements than actual horror, though the horror may lie in the violence, the classism, the power struggles. However, Miles does also love his home city even though it is rural and poor and his family is persecuted for decades, and this was an interesting perspective. It is awesome how this book manages to portray family, kinship, and found family in a heartwarming way while also depicting a circle of violence that Miles get caught in. It is equally awesome how pretty much every character makes morally ambigious decisions, how they are sometimes left without choice, and how this book discusses moral and justice in an extremely complex way. Characters are complicated and sometimes it is hard to say who deserves what and who is likable, and this is a sign of immensly good writing. It was also great to have representation of an aromantic character who seems to be allosexual. There is a lot of queer representation (also queerphobia, please check out the content warnings) and that was amazing. There is just one thing that bugged me a bit, nothing big, but its spoilery: I was't really a fan of the introduction of the queerplatonic relationship. Don't get me wrong, I'd loved to have more rep on that, but it felt so sudden and like it's not really getting space and the characters not having any build-up until then. Like it would have been fine for them to be friends, so this whole thing came out of the blue for me and I missed any real development up to that. For me, it felt a bit like "oh this character is aromantic so we can't give him a romantic relationship as a happy end so what's the next thing close to that?" while I'd wish that it would be fine for aromantic characters to not be in a committed relationship too, for any character, actually. So, as I said, yay for queerplatonic relationships in general, but this one felt kinda forced because it was so sudden.
Characteristics
1 reviews
Mood
Protagonist(s)
Pace
Writing Style
Description
A queer Appalachian thriller that pulls no punches—following a trans autistic teen who's drawn into the generational struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them.
The INSTANT New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestselling novel from award-winning author Andrew Joseph White!
The limited-quantity first printing of this powerful novel features specially-designed endpapers with photos of West Virginia coal mines from The Library of Congress!
On the night Miles Abernathy—sixteen-year-old socialist and proud West Virginian—comes out as trans to his parents, he sneaks off to a party, carrying evidence that may finally turn the tide of the blood feud plaguing Twist Creek: Photos that prove the county’s Sheriff Davies was responsible for the so-called “accident” that injured his dad, killed others, and crushed their grassroots efforts to unseat him.
The feud began a hundred years ago when Miles’s great-great-grandfather, Saint Abernathy, incited a miners’ rebellion that ended with a public execution at the hands of law enforcement. Now, Miles becomes the feud’s latest victim as the sheriff’s son and his friends sniff out the evidence, follow him through the woods, and beat him nearly to death.
In the hospital, the ghost of a soot-covered man hovers over Miles’s bedside while Sheriff Davies threatens Miles into silence. But when Miles accidently kills one of the boys who hurt him, he learns of other folks in Twist Creek who want out from under the sheriff’s heel. To free their families from this cycle of cruelty, they’re willing to put everything on the line—is Miles?
A visceral, unabashedly political page-turner that won’t let you go until you’ve reached the end, Compound Fracture is not for the faint of heart, but it is for every reader who's ready to fight for a better world. Hand this story to teens pushing for radical change.
Instant New York Times bestseller
Instant USA Today Bestseller
Instant Indie Bestseller
Named to the ALA Rainbow Book List
A Kids’ Indie Next Selection
Named a Best Book of the Year by Paste Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Shelf Awareness and more!
A Booklist Editors’ Choice: Books for Youth
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Recipient
A Children’s Book Council Young Adult Favorite & Teachers’ Favorite
Book Information
Posts
Yeah I nearly missed a meeting for this. This book is one of the most political reads of my year and I want to tell that everyone who assumes that Young Adult cannot be that political. This one is. Not only because the main character is trans, autistic and aromantic (and only aware of one of these), but also because Miles is a socialist and this is bascially the story about a bloody feud between two families. This book is rather a political thriller with body horror elements than actual horror, though the horror may lie in the violence, the classism, the power struggles. However, Miles does also love his home city even though it is rural and poor and his family is persecuted for decades, and this was an interesting perspective. It is awesome how this book manages to portray family, kinship, and found family in a heartwarming way while also depicting a circle of violence that Miles get caught in. It is equally awesome how pretty much every character makes morally ambigious decisions, how they are sometimes left without choice, and how this book discusses moral and justice in an extremely complex way. Characters are complicated and sometimes it is hard to say who deserves what and who is likable, and this is a sign of immensly good writing. It was also great to have representation of an aromantic character who seems to be allosexual. There is a lot of queer representation (also queerphobia, please check out the content warnings) and that was amazing. There is just one thing that bugged me a bit, nothing big, but its spoilery: I was't really a fan of the introduction of the queerplatonic relationship. Don't get me wrong, I'd loved to have more rep on that, but it felt so sudden and like it's not really getting space and the characters not having any build-up until then. Like it would have been fine for them to be friends, so this whole thing came out of the blue for me and I missed any real development up to that. For me, it felt a bit like "oh this character is aromantic so we can't give him a romantic relationship as a happy end so what's the next thing close to that?" while I'd wish that it would be fine for aromantic characters to not be in a committed relationship too, for any character, actually. So, as I said, yay for queerplatonic relationships in general, but this one felt kinda forced because it was so sudden.