Boot Camp

The first two chapters came to me in my email inbox, and after ignoring it for a few days, I got pretty into it. By the end of the week (and series of emails), I was a bit bummed and therefore put it on hold at the library.

A few weeks later when I picked it up, I fully expected to dump it back at the library when it was due back, not having read it. For a YA book, it was pretty good about dealing with an issue without over-dramatizing it or pandering to the reader.

Anyway, it's the story of a teen who has an affair with his high school teacher and is sent off to a military school for his "disobedience" to his parents. What makes it work is that the narrator is an abnormally well-spoken teen, who is obviously more mature than most. His parents are presented as the typical upper-middle class WASP types, more concerned with their image than their child's welfare. While these are pretty stereotypical characters, the author does a good job in not pandering to the type - the parents are shown as misdirecting their care and concern along with being willfully blind. The kid, while mature, was still in a sexual relationship with an adult - technically illegal at best, with the teacher as a sexual predator at worst.

He goes through some absolutely abhorrent abuse at the military school, which is documented in a very matter-of-fact way. He is beaten, forced to do humiliating and dangerous tasks, and emotionally abused the entire way through. The idea is to brainwash the kids and then reprogram them.

Interestingly, sexual abuse is never even broached. Possibly it would be too much for a YA book, but you have to imagine this takes place along with the other forms of abuse - especially when the abuse is about power.

Possibly the best part of the book, and something you don't often see in YA is the afterword - the author speaks plainly and pointedly about the actual camps that exist in the US (and to a lesser degree in Canada), and how they have been responsible for a large number of deaths in the last 30 years.

I was interested enough in this to google "US youth boot camps" the next day, and it's true - it's a pretty terrible system that has parents giving permission for these places to abuse their children in the name of "saving them". Now, I am completely sure that there are a large number of kids out there who need a (metaphorical) kick in the ass to turn their lives around. This system seems antiquated and wrong, however. Especially when, after doing the research, it turns out that statistically they make no difference whatsoever - the repeat rates for these kids in the criminal system is identical to the kids that don't go through boot camps. Finally, often the people running these camps have no actual credentials to support themselves - they do not keep psychiatrists, appropriate medical staff, teaching staff, etc.

All in all, worthwhile read and good issue-type book for YA. 3.5 steel-toed boots to the face out of 5.