Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America

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Now here I must quote Civil Twilight; What comes first, the courage or the fall? Is that a savior outside my window? Or is that a reflection of me? I'm just going to come right out and say it. Very few books make me twitchy and squirmy. This one did. Gruesome, graphic, violent, gripping, depressing, lonely, hilarious, witty, raw, painfully sad, sad, sad, this book has everything that is poisonous and totally not good for me but I gobble everything up like I'm one of the dying in the book craving for magical fish. It's so bad, this book is so bad for me because it provides us questions about humanity, about sacrifices, about what it means to find home in someone and what it means to let go, about taking risks, about forgiving, about second chances, about hard choices, about morality, about weird unfortunate circumstances we sometimes will not be able to prevent. So February, huh? The month of February is about ghost stories for me, I don't know why. And oh boy, do the ghosts got stories to tell. I don't know, don't know, so don't ask me why. That's how we are, La Seine and I. 2013. Gone. Sorry, couldn't resist. Even if that song is not over. Even though there were some plot holes in the story, i didn't really mind them that much, because I was blinded by characters.

There are so many parallels between Teeth and The Metamorphosis that I can’t even begin to count them – from the way people treat (or rather ignore) Teeth, to the grotesque wounds on his body. (Remember Gregor Samsa’s apple?). Even the two fishermen are a metaphor for the government – no one but them knows the right bait for Enki, which makes them the only ones with any kind of power on an otherwise lawless island. Their conflict with Teeth makes the metaphor even stronger. He is the Gregor Samsa of this story, and they are the powers that be that beat him and abuse him in every possible way, while the rest of the world completely ignores his existenceRudy's younger brother, Dylan, has cystic fibrosis. In a last-ditch effort to save Dylan's life, Rudy and his family move to a remote island where the fish are known to have healing qualities. Rudy suffers his angst alone until he meets Diana, the only other human adolescent on the island, and Teeth, the only non-human adolescent he's encountered... ever. Rudy and Teeth develop a strange and electric bond, but Rudy soon learns that all miracles come at a price - especially the one involving his little brother eating magical fish.

An ARC was provided to me by the publisher. No gifts, favours or money was exchanged for this review. His tail is skinny and silver, the same color as Dylan’s fish. All of his scales, especially the ones on his chest, look dry, like they’re about to flake off. His hair is short and uneven. Mermaids in fairy tales were never this ugly. Mermen. Teeth is just as much of a complex character as Rudy. Being abandoned by his mother at four years old because he turned into a fishboy, Teeth now hates humans. He hates the fishermen that come to kill his siblings & he hates the humans that attempt to bond with him- only to push him away. Teeth's emotional damage is intensified when he reveals he has been repeatably raped. Desperate to get out off the island, but harboring his own feelings of guilt & shame, there's nothing left to do but find some sort of solace in the companionship of Rudy. So I very highly recommend this read and as for a reunion sequel? Yes, please. That would be a definite pre-buy for me. : )I mean, God, her writing . . . That is the number one reason I want to own and devour every one of her books. The two words I can use to describe her writing are raw and real. Even if this book is about magic fish and a boy who happens to have scales and a tail fin, it still felt so real, as if I were reading a contemporary novel. I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.