From Where I Stand
by Tabitha Sazuma

Release Date: 7th Feb 2008
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978 1 862 30212 9
RRP: £5.99

A dead mother. A broken family. A boy in foster care. From Where I Stand is more than just your usual teenage angst novel full of angry vibes and general discontent with life. It deals with very real and disturbing human emotions such as grief, guilt and depression. It is the story of a lost soul called Raven, who has seemingly detached himself from reality and created his own world full of conflicting emotions and thoughts.

Raven is brought from the care home to his new foster family. And all his problems seem to bubble up to the surface, slowly growing in destructiveness over time. Safe to say, Raven is a deeply troubled teenager and it is either a romantic notion on behalf of the author, or a tribute to those phenomenal foster parents who are willing to take on troubled youths rather than sweet-faced toddlers and babies. There is part of me who would like to think the latter.

This is an uncomfortable story about the danger of allowing emotionally traumatised people, never mind teenagers to face their guilt, fears and debilitating depression alone. The fact that Raven repeatedly self-harms throughout is in equal part devastating and appalling. His obsession with finding his mother’s “murderer” a clear indicator that not all is well with his mental state and yet this is somehow ignored or dismissed by social workers, teachers and even the wonderful foster parents. Perhaps the author is trying to send a signal out that there are clear signs if only we know what we’re looking for. If so, this should be a book that is read by anyone responsible for caring for children.

Bullying is another emotive topic broached by the author, and although there are occasional events that are truly distasteful and shocking, it isn’t exactly portrayed as a singularly destructive force in Raven’s life; rather it is an unfortunate by-product of being the new boy and having an odd name. To my mind, the bullying theme is not satisfactorily dealt with and should not perhaps have been included as little is done to ratify things other than Raven eventually dealing with the bullies in his own way.

This is not a tale of healing, but of a final journey towards the end of very dark tunnel, standing on the precipice and whether or not Raven falls in. An interesting and moving book, neatly told.

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