America (2002 novel)
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| America | |
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| Author | E. R. Frank |
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| Cover artist | Michael Yuen |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date | 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 242 (Paperback, excluding author's note) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-689-85772-1 (Paperback) |
America is a young adult novel written by E. R. Frank. It tells the story of America, a fifteen-year-old biracial boy who had gotten lost in the system. At the beginning, he is living at Ridgeway Hospital, a recovery centre in New York. When the novel starts, he has just been transferred to Ridgeway from Applegate, where he attempted to hang himself from a tree, using a rope made of shoelaces. The story tells how Dr. B, his psychiatrist at Ridgeway, helps America piece his life together. It has won several awards, including being a New York Times Notable Book. In 2002, shortly after having E.R. Frank on her TV show, Rosie O'Donnell purchased the film rights to America, however, nothing has yet been done with these film rights.
[edit] Plot summary
The novel America was born to a crack addict, who was possibly a prostitute. She is scarcely described in the novel, with one possible reference being only as a white lady with fingernails painted brown. This is most likely untrue, however, as both of America's half-brothers are black, as is (one assumes) their mother, who is never concretely described. When America was born (she was nineteen years old and America was her sixth child) she gave him to a rich white family. However, it turned out the family was racist, as they decided they didn't want him any more after his skin started to darken. America was five years old.
However, the family's nanny, named Sylvia Harper but referred to throughout the story as Mrs. Harper, adopted America. She had a "man-friend" named Clark Poignant, and a half-brother named Browning. Clark Poignant was very ill, but befriended America. But after just a year, America gets sent back to his biological mother by the state. Browning tells America to be as bad as he possibly can, so he will get sent back. America's mother lived in a shoddy house in New York City with America's two older brothers, named Brooklyn and Lyle. In America's words "Lyle was the oldest, but Brooklyn was the baddest, so Brooklyn was in charge."
America's mother, however, is always on errands, so five year old America has to live with his brothers- aged 7 and 9 - for two years. America, Brooklyn and Lyle steal things, throw bricks through windows, and America writes his "numbers" (the phone numbers of Mrs. Harper, Clark Poignant and Browning) all over the house with some green Magic Markers Brooklyn had stolen. However, their luck runs out when an elevator worker finds them scribbling America's numbers all over the elevator. America is sent to a hospital, and Brooklyn and Lyle are sent to a foster home. At the hospital he tells a social worker named Mike to call Mrs. Harper, and he is sent back to Mrs. Harper.
When he gets back, Mrs. Harper has grown old and arthritic, and Browning has moved in to America's old bedroom, which they share. Clark Poignant died a month after he left. However, America has difficulty erasing the bad behaviour and swears he learned, and Mrs. Harper cleans his mouth out with soap. At this time, America is eight years old and still illiterate, so Mrs. Harper begins to teach him to read before he starts Grade 2 in special education.
However, Browning, who told America he was lonely and glad to have him back, sees that America enjoys being bad and secretly encourages him to be bad, away from Mrs. Harper. He teaches America to read his own way, with flash cards with swears on them. When America begins school, he meets Liza, who shares some of his bad behaviour. (Liza's father left her mother and took all their money). They develop crushes on each other.
At this time, though, Browning's relationship with America continues to develop. He gives America a lighter with a naked lady on it, and gives him vodka mixed with Coke. He also continues to give America his own reading lessons, giving him pornographic magazines to read. Eventually, Browning begins to molest America. America likes the feeling of Browning touching him, but at the same time knows it's wrong. He is torn at what to do, and begins to feel depressed for the first time. He tells Liza he will kill himself, and Liza says she would hate him more than anything if he did. So instead of committing suicide, he decides to run away.
Just before running away, he finds a chart written by his mother that reveals she had six children, one every year since the age of fifteen, with the exception of Lyle's twin brother, Kyle, who is apparently dead; though how this happened is never elaborated on or explained. It also shows her drug money at the time of each child's birth, peaking at $200 a week with the birth of Brooklyn. America burns the chart and throws the ashes at Browning, who tells him to go to sleep. But America makes a snap decision, and sets Browning's bed on fire with his lighter.
After killing his foster uncle, America cannot stop crying day after day. He goes to New York again and eventually starts to live with a marijuana dealer named Ty (Charles Tyler). He lives with Ty for an undisclosed amount of time, but Ty is eventually arrested by the NYPD. America is taken away and questioned by a detective. At this time, he confesses to the murder of Browning. His situation goes to court, but Mrs. Harper told the police he had gone missing eighteen hours before Browning died. America cannot be convicted, as the crime occurred when he was nine. Mrs. Harper wants him back, but she is in a nursing home. America tells the judge he got lost in the system, and the judge sends him to Applegate.
At Applegate, America befriends Wick, Marshall and Ernie, and is acquainted with the seemingly mentally retarded Fish, but Ernie is his best friend. Ernie worries about America. America says almost nothing to his therapists, even going so far as to attempt to destroy one's office after the therapist asked if his uncle had done anything to him. In one group therapy session, America says he once felt like killing somebody, but didn't do anything instead. However, Ernie is the only one who understands what he is trying to say. Eventually, a distraught America climbs a tree and attempts to hang himself with a noose made from shoelaces. But Ernie finds him hanging from the tree and saves his life. Shortly after, he is sent to Ridgeway.
At first, America rarely says anything to Dr. B (except his place of dissociation, Mount Everest), but when he sees Brooklyn serving dinner in the hospital cafeteria, he decides he wants to stop his painful flashbacks he often sees when thinking. He begins to open up to Dr. B, telling him about his strange wet dreams, his painful memories, and how he wants to work in the kitchen.
America decides to send a letter to Ernie to thank him for saving his life. When Ernie replies, he says he knows America killed a man, but he also knows America is a good person. He mentions Liza had contacted Applegate looking for him. Three weeks after his sixteenth birthday, he meets Brooklyn by the water fountain at five o'clock in the morning, but Brooklyn tells him they aren't associated. Dr. B tells him he is ready for the kitchen. When he is in the kitchen, though, he wastes enormous quantities of carrots because they remind him of cooking dinners with Browning.
The next part of the story takes part when America is 17. Brooklyn is about to enter detox again after staying clean for several months, and America receives a letter from Liza, who asks where he is. America asks how she found him, and Liza complains he didn't sign "love". Meanwhile, Dr. B informs America there is a spot open in a transitional home, where he will live with two other young people, Kevin and Ben, and a social worker named Phillip. America decides to go, and Brooklyn is called into Dr. B's office to say goodbye. While there, he is about to say something as a goodbye, but cannot get the words out of his mouth. At the home, America writes Liza and tells her she can come by if she wants. Dr. B informs America Brooklyn has eloped, and when America asks him why he would care, Dr. B replies, "That's pussy, and you know it, America."
Liza is finally re-united with America at the home shortly after. But America still thinks about what happened to Mrs. Harper and Lyle, and why Brooklyn eloped. He is unable to cook in the home because of painful memories coming up again.
When America is eighteen, he receives a letter from Brooklyn, who tells him that they are indeed brothers, and that they are associated. Dr. B teaches him positive self-talk to eliminate painful memories, but America still wants to see Mrs. Harper. He struggles to tell Liza he truly loves her, and is troubled by love. He signs "Love, America" in his letter to Mrs. Harper's nursing home, though. He visits Mrs. Harper in the nursing home, who is delighted to see him. However, she is very old and in a wheelchair. Like Brooklyn, she struggles to get her words out, but America feels relieved and feels like he got "pulled out of an avalanche after all these years."
Mrs. Harper dies several days after his visit, and America and Dr. B cry together reading the letter from the nursing home. In the last chapter, named "Grown", America feels forgiven by Mrs. Harper, and burns his fifty-seven pairs of shoelaces with his lighter, both of which he bought at a mall, and then he throws his lighter away, symbolism showing his painful memories are gone and he is able to live his life. The last paragraphs of the book are details of a dream he has featuring everyone who had a positive impact on his life, and him being lifted up by what seems to be the hand of God, and America says he is found.
[edit] Characters in "America "
The author of the book, E.R. Frank, is herself a social worker, and in an author's note at the end of the book, she says she has worked with many Americas over the years. She says some have been young as nine, like the novel character, and as old as 56. She says Dr. B was inspired by several colleagues and supervisors she has met over the years. She says any of the characters in the novel could have at anytime walked in through her office door but instead settled in her heart.
