Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Goodreads: Hannah Moskowitz's (author of BREAK and INVINCIBLE SUMMER) TEETH features a sixteen-year-old boy whose family, in an effort to cure his ailing brother, relocates to a remote island where legendary magic fish are said to have healing powers, and he discovers the island has terrible secrets, including a half-teenager, half-fish.

My thoughts: This is one of the weirdest books I have read. I give it two stars only because I finished it. For me, it was a one star read. I finished it and thought, "What the crap was that?" I wanted it to make sense. I think that metaphorically, Teeth could be a representation of the way a gay teenager feels cut off from society and loses his identity. He was cast outby his mother who had questionable sexual habits herself, but his conception was just plain weird. I did not understand the point of Diana besides trying to remind Teeth that he was half human but she played a small part in the story.

So the story is that Rudy and his family move to an island where the Enki fish possess magical healing properties. Rudy's brother has cystic fibrosis. He eats the fish with nothing else and he feels better. Meanwhile, Rudy is a teenager that is lonely. He meets Fishboy who is sort of a merman and they become friends. But Teeth doesn't belong in the water because hebreathes air. He doesn't belong on the land because he has a tail, scales and fins. He is a self appointed guardian of the Enki fish. If the fisherman catch him, they rape him and beat him.

The pieces of Rudy's story seem to be unrelated besides the part that he wanted to help Teeth which led him to help free the fish but then that would hurt his brother. I never really felt the connection between Rudy and Teeth, even though their words claimed how close they were. Then Mrs. Delaney cries every Tuesday so Rudy goes over to Diana's house so they can talk books, make out, have sex.

I didn't get it.