Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Jane Zeman

Reading Response- Tell the Wolves I’m Home

          The novel, “Tell the Wolves I’m Home” by Carol Rifka Brunt, is about a girl named June and her life after her uncle, who is also her best friend, dies. A couple of days after the funeral she is contacted by her uncle Finn’s secret boyfriend. In the story, different people cope with this loss in different ways. The main characters are June, her mom, and Toby, Finn’s boyfriend.

          June deals with the loss of her uncle by pretending to be in a different time. When she first finds out that her uncle is dying June says, “I closed my eyes and tried to make the diner disappear.” She attempts to make the problems facing her disappear by imagining they’re not there. June also likes to walk through the woods with a scenario in mind, pretending to be anyone besides herself. The author writes, “I tried to keep my mind on the story I was telling myself, where I was the only one strong enough to hunt for my village…” She is unsatisfied with her life so she turns to other lives to escape hers.

          June’s mom deals with her brother’s death differently than June. When she first tells June about Finn she says, “‘Finn’s dying June.’ She could have said that Finn was sick- even really sick-but she didn’t. She told me straight out that Finn was dying. My mother wasn’t always like that. She wasn’t always one for harsh truths, but this time she must have figured that it meant less talking, less explaining.” This tells readers that June’s mom deals with her issues the least she can. If she doesn’t have to think about it, it’s not there. Also, when Greta, June’s sister, finds an article about Finn (he’s a famous artist) in the New York Times and tries to read it to the family, June’s mom says, “‘Okay Greta, enough now.’ My mother reached for the paper.” She doesn’t want to think about her brother’s death.

          Finn’s boyfriend, Toby, is also devastated when Finn dies and he deals with it by drinking and smoking but also by spending time with June.  In the text it says, “There were dirty plates and glasses everywhere, records lying around out of their sleeves, and at least three ashtrays overflowing with tea bags and cigarette butts.” Without Finn, Toby doesn’t take care of himself or the apartment. He needs June to help him through life without him. When June has a lot of homework and can’t go over to Toby’s, he says, ‘“I could help you. If you think that would work. Keep you company.’

 ‘I don’t know.’ (June says)  

‘Oh go on. I promise it’ll be better than sitting home on your own.’  I hadn’t expected Toby to offer to help.

‘You don’t have to do that. It’s okay.’  He sighed.

‘I want you to come.’” This conversation shows that Toby really relies on June. He is not an independent self-supporting adult.

          The story is mainly about how June copes with her best friend’s death and what she discovers about his life, after he is dead.  She is not the only one that has to deal with Finn's death. Her mom and Toby both have their ways of coping.  This book showed me that big issues such as death can sometimes draw people closer, but it can also push others away. Toby and June never would have met, if not for Finn dying, and they became very close because of it. However June's mom became more withdrawn and far from her family. June and Greta's relationship suffered from her spending so much time with Toby. Everyone in the book deals with death in different ways, some ways have benefits and some ways have negative effects.