Rudy and his family moved to a small island, packed up and disrupted their entire lives. The island is home to the Enki fish, a magic fish that cures illness and extends life. Rudy's younger brother had been afflicted with cystic fibrosis. The fish saved his life, but now they are stuck there. There isn't a lot of time left until he leaves for college, but until then Rudy is bored.
At first Rudy believes that he is the only teenager on the island. Then he meets Diana and Teeth. Diana is the shut-in daughter of the richest woman on the island. She spends all of her time reading and doesn't really know how to act like a human, instead coming off as a talking text book. Still, the two bond over their love of reading.
Teeth is a merman, who is actually Diana's brother. Everyone knows that he is there, but they mostly ignore him. Rudy hears him screaming at night, a result of the abuse from local fishermen. It's a difficult situation, because the fishermen are the only ones who know how to catch the life-saving Enki fish, but Rudy still wants to save his new friend. Teeth wants the people to stop catching the fish. He sees himself as their protector, all of them his brothers and sisters. Rudy helps Teeth, but it turns out that he may be hurting his brother at the same time.
Teeth was a very dark story. There's a lot of swearing and adult themes. It definitely has its own unique charm. I never thought I'd be rooting for a romance between a boy and a merman, but that happened. Ultimately, this is a heartbreaking book, but it's also very uplifting. That doesn't really make sense, but again, it's fitting here. This book may be hard for me to describe, but it was still a great read.
I received my copy of Teeth from Edelweiss, courtesy of Simon Pulse. It's available now for anyone else who likes weird stories.
Sounds intriguing...I will add it to my backlog! Thanks.
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