Publisher's Weekly Review
Ever since 10th grader Ian Gray and his mother were abandoned by Ian's father, things at home in rural Vermont have been difficult for the family. After Ian's mother hurts her back at work, she loses her job and becomes dependent on prescription opioids to cope with the pain. When she's hospitalized, Ian is forced to rely on his own skills to care for their home. He quits the basketball team to look for a job, makes repairs around the house, and struggles to ready their dilapidated car for inspection. Luckily, his knack for fixing things lands him an opportunity to make money working for kind neighbors. He even pseudo-adopts Gather, the enormous stray dog that has been wandering into his family's yard, and befriends new student Sylvia. Upon his mother's return, she finds employment at a local diner. Ian is sure that good things are on the horizon for them, until the government threatens to repossess their land for nonpayment of taxes. Ian's genuine first-person narration--enriched by his penchant for pithy metaphors and similes--unveils a protagonist whose innate sense of justice and tentatively hopeful perspective buoy Cadow's sober debut. Main characters read as white. Ages 14--up. (Oct.)
Kirkus Review
Family matters; friends, both two- and four-legged, help too. The story opens with Ian Gray's Aunt Terry bustling around the house in anticipation of his mom's return home from the hospital, just a week before Thanksgiving. In bits and pieces, readers learn that Mom struggles with addiction. Through this and all the subsequent challenges Ian faces, a stray dog who has wandered out of the woods adjoining his backyard becomes his anchor and steady best friend. He names the large, galumphing stray Gather. Ian recollects spending a lot of time with crusty Gramps, who liked to hunt. Mom makes a slow recovery, landing a job and a boyfriend. Between school, family, and friends, Ian's world is heavily populated. Cadow's debut novel portrays a challenging coming-of-age in rural Vermont with warmth, humor, and insight. Ian observes the turmoil that surrounds him with bewilderment and deadpan humor. At one point, after a potentially dangerous incident, he remarks, "Obviously I made it since I'm telling you about it." Cadow captures Ian's engaging naïveté, which is tempered by a survivor's unflappability and a blossoming sense of irony. The novel has the flavor of a collection of linked stories, boosted by snappy chapter titles: "What You Come Across and What You Do with It" is a reminiscence about a fishing trip and a found jackknife but also reflects Ian's philosophy of life. Main characters read white. A heartfelt novel about the challenges of youth and the value of community. (Fiction. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The dog, obviously a stray and big as a house, appears out of the blue. Sixteen-year-old Ian knows immediately that he wants to adopt him, although his mother says no, they can't afford it. True, for Ian's father has deserted them, while his mother has been fired from her job as she fights an opioid addiction. Ian won't take that no for an answer, though, and winds up keeping the dog, whom he names Gather. Ian is a country kid living on the last 10 acres of what was once his family's 300-acre Vermont farm. He is preternaturally resourceful and can do anything with his hands, having learned these skills from his beloved Gramps. His life is not atypical--he's a sophomore in high school, where he's sometimes in trouble, and has a girlfriend named Sylvia--until he's confronted with a tragedy that tests his resources and his love for Gather. Cadow's first novel is, in a word, superb. The wonderfully empathic characters are fully realized, their reality enhanced by numerous flashbacks that provide context and dimensionality. The Vermont setting is deeply evocative, as is Ian's memorable voice, through which the captivating story is told. Arguably one of the finest novels of the year.
