Broken as things are : a novel /

I was the fire over which Ginx's soul became less blank, more legible. Morgan Lee's brother, Ginx, speaks in poetry no one else can understand; only Morgan Lee can decipher his curious rush of words, chosen for their sound and emotional impact rather than their meaning. Witt's riveting debut is a disturbing, accomplished novel about a girl's coming-of-age in a family broken apart by illness and denial. Writing in Morgan Lee's voice, Witt reveals crucial information indirectly and in opaque clues that ring true to how Morgan Lee, still devoted to and protective of her brother, would tell the story. Gradually readers learn about Ginx's psychological illness and about the fierce possessiveness he feels for his sister, which brings astonishing violence that only increases as Morgan Lee becomes a teenager and experiments with crushes of her own. Wildly imaginative and intelligent, Witt's novel is an often profound, unsettling story of children struggling to understand love, truth, and sacrifice with little help from ineffectual adults. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2004 Booklist

Told in the dry, savant-like voice of 14-year-old Morgan-Lee, this tale of a Southern girl's coming-of-age gives a droll twist to the tropes of dysfunction. Morgan-Lee and her handsome, "unwell" 15-year-old brother, Ginx, are as emotionally close as twins. They have a secret language-a nonsensical patois that Ginx created-and share a running story about a brother and sister who are given permission to love each other forever and ever. Their mother is an overdelicate flower who's taken to her bed rather than face her son's problems; their father is kind but incapable of taking control; and their younger sister, Dana, has all but abandoned the family, moving into her aunt and uncle's house next door. Everything is proceeding as well as can be expected-one accepts, for example, that it's okay for Ginx to give his sister the occasional concussion-until Morgan-Lee falls in love with her childhood friend, Billy. Neither sibling is prepared for the inevitable as Morgan-Lee's adolescence strains the family bonds and pitches the household into full-blown crisis. Arch, slyly humorous and occasionally overblown ("I felt my jaw throb and swell, drinking the purple and black straight out of that warm evening"), this is an unusual, uncompromising debut. Agent, Bill Clegg. Author tour. (Aug. 3) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

A much-touted debut about a young girl's close relationship with her autistic and ultimately violently jealous brother. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Witt's first outing, told by a middle sibling, is the story of a North Carolina family, dysfunctional in touching and sometimes very amusing ways. Morgan-Lee is 15, though she takes us back to earlier years as a way of letting us know who everyone is--and they're quite a bunch. Her slightly older brother Ginx, for starters, is brilliant but autistic, loved intensely by Morgan-Lee, who both wants his praise and wants to protect him--in spite of his often attacking her with pummels that leave real bruises. Younger Dana is the "normal" one, interested in boys but not in her high-mannered, always-exhausted, neurasthenic and hypercritical mother: in fact, Dana has taken to living mainly at the house of ditzy but welcoming Aunt Lois, who gives cosmetic make-overs and affects knowledge of all things about romance, though her husband, Uncle Pete, is if anything an uncut gem. Morgan-Lee's bumbling and mild-mannered father completes the roster--that is, until the tall and slim girl from the wrong side of the tracks, with the name of Sweety-Boy, appears one day selling her homemade jellies and jams. Dana's delight on learning that Sweety-Boy is the sister--well, half-sister--of 16-year-old garage mechanic Jacob leads to a party invitation at Sweety-Boy and Jacob's place. Things go mighty fast from then on--including the party itself, which may be the most brilliantly described, and outright hilarious, portrait of kids and alcohol ever. The portrait deepens, though, as Morgan-Lee takes upon herself the "protection" of Dana and has her own long night's encounter with Jacob (another flawless, pitch-perfect section). Serious trouble follows from the jealous--and, yup, incestuous, plus more--Sweety-Boy, who gets vengeance (in just the right amount, though) on Morgan-Lee in a most interesting way before the tale's perfectly sad and very funny close. Follows old trails, yet everything you come upon seems absolutely new. A real wonder. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.