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Sic by Brin Friesen Andor Press
book review by Terry Lacy
"Who knew Mountain Dew was the official drink of the insane?"
This is the story of Jasper, a kid who finds himself in a mental hospital, and the journey that brought him here. Sic should be used by universities everywhere as an example for how to write a novel. The brutally simplistic language hits with the force of a young Mike Tyson, knocking the reader out with one punch. The problem is, there is a punch on every page.
Okay, so that is not a problem—it’s actually a good thing. Friesen gives us characters we love and hate all at once, from Jasper's slightly whorish mother with a Hungarian lisp to his best friend Norman, who sets Jasper up for a beating from the school bully. Even Norman's parents get into the act as clueless buffoons convinced the boys are on drugs, (they aren’t) and not letting up until the boys confess in a hug-fest intervention.
And it is not always oddball twists and turns. Sic grabs the reader early on and never lets go. Heartbreaking scenes range from the death of his younger brother leading to the forced committal of his mother, yet there are laugh-out-loud passages like the metal shop teacher's German accent being compared to scheizer porn dialogue. The story is masterfully told, the language poetically simple, and even the non-essential characters are incredibly entertaining. There isn't a good page to set this book down.
I've never met the author, but in case someone reads this review and believes it is too kind, there is a typo on page 233.