âAn intense, sometimes graphic, totally heartbreaking portrait of a character who will keep pages turning.â - Booklist, Starred Review
"An achingly fierce exploration of the way the world wounds us and heals us. If you love exquisitely written coming-of-age stories that will leave you breathless, In Sight of Stars is for you." - Jeff Zentner, William C. Morris award-winning author of The Serpent King and Goodbye Days
Seventeen-year-old Kleeâs father was the center of his life. He introduced Klee to the great museums of New York City and the important artists on their walls, he told him stories made of myths and magic. Until his death.
Now, forced to live in the suburbs with his mom, Klee canât help but feel heâs lost all the identifying parts of himselfâhis beloved father, weekly trips to the MoMA, and the thrumming energy of New York City. That is until he meets wild and free Sarah in art class, with her quick smiles and jokes about his âbrooding.â Suddenly it seems as if sheâs the only thing that makes him happy. But when an act of betrayal sends him reeling, Klee lands in what is bitingly referred to as the âApe Can,â a psychiatric hospital for teens in Northhollow.
While there, he undergoes intensive therapy and goes back over the pieces of his life to find out what was real, what wasnât, and whether he can stand on his own feet again. Told in alternating timelines, leading up to the event that gets him committed and working towards getting back out, Gae Polisnerâs In Sight of Stars is a gorgeous novel told in minimalist strokes to maximal effect, about what makes us fall apart and how we can put ourselves back together again.