Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold is a novel about grief, loss, and finding a sense of belonging in a vast world. At the start of the book, Vic and Madeline are in the Hackensack, New Jersey police department being questioned about the murder of Mad’s abusive uncle. Most of the story, however, is told through flashbacks of the previous eight days leading up to the interrogation.

Vic has the rare Moebius Syndrome, which causes facial paralysis. He can’t blink or smile. A lot has recently happened in Vic’s life. He ran away from his mom and her nasty boyfriend, with the urn of his dead father’s ashes in Vic’s hands. Vic landed with the Kids of Appetite - 18 year old Mad, new adult refugees Baz and Zuz,  and foul-mouthed 11 year old Coco.

Vic wants to scatter his father’s remains, and has a list that his dad left that in order to do that -- which turns out to be more like a scavenger hunt.

The story is told in alternating chapters between Vic and Mad, and we see the struggles that each character has trying to escape the awful hand that life has dealt them and the Kids of Appetite. While there is a murder investigation at the heart of the novel, this is definitely not a page-turning thriller. Instead, Kids of Appetite is a lush literary look into a life that most students will count themselves lucky never to have experienced -- but will certainly feel for all those who have.

CHeck out Kids of Appetite by David Arnold.