Reviews: (by author)

Frank, E.R. America. New York: Simon Pulse, 2002. $7.99. ISBN 0-689-85772-1.   244 pp.              

When we are first introduced to fifteen-year-old America, he is in a New York detention facility being interviewed by his psychiatrist, Dr. B, because of a recent suicide attempt.   Through their dialogue we learn that America has a troubling past but does not want to reveal any of it to a doctor that he can't trust.   The story then switches to the past tense to when America was growing up as a young boy and about his mother who abandoned him and his brothers who were all left to fend for themselves.   America is taken in by a nanny, Mrs. Harper, and her half brother Browning.   Between the present tense dialogues with Dr. B and the past tense narrative we learn that America was molested by Browning and that this and other incidents are what lead up to America's suicide attempt.   This narrative technique is very similar to Peter Pohl's novel Johnny, my friend in the way that both novels' structures hint at events that will happen later in the story which adds suspense to the story.                          

The story deals with very serious topics in a graphic nature.   The language is realistic and contains many expletives.   The accounts of America's childhood molestation are graphic and detailed which make them disturbing to read.   The author captures the curiosity and confusion that America had about his sexuality as a young boy and how the older male Browning was able to manipulate and take advantage of that.   America's confusion about his own sexuality continues to be a principal theme in the book as he grows older and has sexual experiences with girls.   America does not understand why when he fantasizes about girls he finds himself also thinking about grown men.   America also struggles with a darker secret that he is finally able to confront through his sessions with Dr. B.   When we leave America his is a very changed eighteen-year-old but one who clearly is still struggling with his identity.               

In the author's afterword she explains that she has practiced as a clinical social worker in the New York area and has encountered many individuals with similar situations as America.   America's character isn't based on one individual's specific experience but rather on a collection of many shared stories which explains the name of America for the main character to tie these dramatic stories together.

Recommended
Neal Schneider, May 2004

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