Bruiser, by Ian Chorao

(0743437756)

WOW.

If you want to crawl inside the head of a 10-year-old boy whose parents are not behaving particularly adult-like, and whose brothers are checking out as well, this is the book for you. Sound boring? No, not at all. Instead it is, by turns grim, embarrassing, awful, reminiscent, sad, enlivening, hopeful...

Set in 1977-78, in New York City, written entirely from the viewpoint of this boy. He and a neighbor girl run away because of the aforementioned Stupid Parent Behavior (her parents are divorced, and her mom is dating a dentist who prescribes downers for mom). They find her dad, who takes the Why Some People Shouldn't Be Parents prize (which is hard, since most of these folks are in the running), then they are off to find another boy he met over vacation in Massachusetts. In their travels they meet a Japanese WWII vet and a 12-year-old beauty pageant veteran among other characters.

This is never anything but honest and 10-year-old boyish. Took awhile to get into it, but once you're in, it's very hard to climb outside the head of this kid. Lots of symbolism, lots of depth.