Eleanor Henderson's debut novel, Ten Thousand Saints, is a take on two unusual families living in Vermont and New York in the late 1980s whose lives become linked forever. We first meet Jude and Teddy, 16-year-old high school buddies who seem to spend much of their time getting high or figuring out how to get high. But don't judge the book just by that fact. We know from the beginning that Teddy will die from an overdose at the end of the day (New Year's Eve, 1987). After that occurs, the rest of the book is the story about how the survivors go on. Jude's adoptive parents are divorced, and his dad has moved to New York. His girlfriend's daughter comes to town on New Year's Eve and initiates the chain of events that leads to Teddy's death, and Jude's subsequent move to New York to live with his father. Another family member key to the story is Johnny, Teddy's older brother, a New York tattoo artist who Teddy and Jude had idolized. Jude soon takes up with Johnny and his friends, who are "straight edge," meaning no drugs, alcohol, meat, or sex. Are you thinking right now that this book is not for you? Well, I understand, because I was hesitant of the subject matter, too. But let me tell you that Henderson so skillfully devises her characters that I came to empathize and understand them, even though I didn't relate at all to their actions. She delves into issues such as tattooing, heavy metal music, music raves (at which people slam into each other as a form of dancing), straight-edge lifestyles, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, and drug addiction--all big issues in and of themselves--with an approach that is nonjudgmental but cuts to the chase. I learned a lot about lifestyles that are completely foreign from my own and watched these characters live and learn and grow from it. Isn't that what a great novel should do? Read it, and I believe you won't be disappointed.
