Compulsion

Compulsion by Heidi Ayarbe
Balzer + Bray, 2011
297 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

Source: Library

After reading Ayarbe's powerful Compromised earlier this year, I looked up what else she had written and saw that this book was upcoming. I put it in my to-read list and then requested it from the library. I've only seen two other reviews of this and was excited to read about a boy MC, still rather rare in YA, and OCD, something I've never seen tackled in a book (except for the Monk books).

In this case Jake Martin's compulsion is numbers, ideally prime or else he has to keep counting and calculating until they are prime.  He has a specific routine that has to take just the right length of time or else his whole day would be thrown off. At the start of the book, he is preparing for his third soccer state championship victory, which would be the perfect day with prime number converging and preparing for his future. After that, he'll be normal; he'll be able to help out his family, he'll make more than one friend, he'll be able to hang out with girls, and the cobwebs won't cloud his vision.

It took me a while to get in to this book as I tried to understand Jake's compulsion. Sometimes he added numbers, sometimes he multiplied and that didn't make sense until I realized that this was Jake's compulsion and it didn't matter what I thought. As the book progressed, I had a growing sense of panic and nervousness because I knew that Jake's compulsion would not disappear like he thought and I was attempting to brace myself for something awful. And make no mistake, some awful things do happen but I'm not going to spoil that.

My favorite part of the book was how I was drawn into Jake's compulsion and recognizing that he needed help but being powerless to do anything. This also made me feel uncomfortable and helpless but also happy at how attached I felt to Jake. He was like the brother I've never had and I just wanted to reach through the book and share some of my quirks and get him to some professional help. Because he is a good guy, trapped in a bad situation and I loved him.

Overall: Another powerful read from Ayarbe; just took a while to really get going.

Compromised

Compromised by Heidi Ayarbe
HarperTeen, 2010
452 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

Source: Library

Read for YA Book Battle; to me, this is a great example of overlooked. Although HarperTeen is one of the big name publishers, and I know I've read a great deal of their books, I had never heard of this.  Additionally 2010 YA books were of great interest to me but I never saw anything about this.

This was a hard book to read, rate, and review, as it deals with teenage homelessness and the idea of family.  Maya has her conman father who lets her down once again, causing her to enter foster care.  When faced with a disgusting prospective set of parents, she decides to flee and attempt to find her aunt Sarah.  As she and two unlikely friends make their way from Reno, NV to Boise, ID, they face unbelievable challenges and attempt to construct their own family.

I loved that Maya was into science; she would make up a purpose and hypothesis, followed by materials, a procedure, variables, and constants.  Although I am not quite as strict, I have a similar habit that enables me to move through my to-do list. This helped me connect with her, which I valued because everything she experienced was completely foreign to me.

I also really liked her friends Natale "Capone" and Klondike.  Natalie has long been fascinated with mob trivia hence her nickname and she follows Maya from the foster care building.  They meet Klondike on the road, a young boy probably with Tourette's whose family kicked him out without understanding his symptoms. They were very sympathetic and their interactions with Maya was great; they made a good team.

The difficult part came when reading about their life on the road.  Possessing about ten dollars and their wits, it is a struggle to survive.  They walk and hitch their way north, searching for food and compassion but rarely finding either.  The disgust for homeless people is frequently expressed and the struggles are described well.  It was very emotional for me to read about and so very different from my own life.

Overall: A difficult read with characters facing some of the toughest decisions I've ever read about. Recommended.

Cover: The colors signal a gritty contemporary read as it is.