[guessing at the star rating / mining my old FB notes now that they are almost impossible to find]

this YA novel is way too dark and ghetto for me to pass on to my 12 yo daughter. it's left me with a few thoughts:

is the kelly character supposed to be jesus? if so, is this a religious book? do folks on drugs need another drug (deep religion) to turn their back on heroin? because, doesn't it seem like a lot of addicted personalities end up as born again christians... as opposed to born into a family of believers?

the ending was so fanastical - weird in a book that was utterly grounded in the reality of poverty, depression, drugs and crime. as a YA novel, i assumed a happy ending, but i was still thrown by its resolution.

in the end, i come away with one strong conviction. this author does teenagers a good turn by pounding into them the responsibility of their own actions; stop saying it's somebody else's fault your life is like this and makes your life all your own fault. i think i'll try this author again and hope he tackles this same theme in a setting that avoids drugs & crime.