Saint Iggy

Saint Iggy, by K.L. Going, was another early summer read for me. It's another good read for someone interested in witnessing the effects of drugs on families and entire communities. While Crank includes a female protagonist whose father is a user (and she becomes a user), Saint Iggy uses a male protagonist who abstains, but knows all of the ins and outs of the trade because his mother has been a user as long as Iggy's been alive.

Iggy's story begins with him getting kicked out of class and being sent to the principal's office for following a cute girl to class and being belligerent with the teacher. Iggy realizes he doesn't want to simply be a waste as he's talking with the principal. Iggy wants to do something to make people think he's special or outstanding in some way. Henceforth, Iggy digs for ideas to become great while he serves an out of school suspension. Iggy finds himself in limbo because he's trying to figure out how to become stand-up citizen while he waits to have a hearing about whether or not he'll be allowed to remain at school or if he'll be expelled.

In the meantime, Iggy visits his pseudo-friend Mo, who is a privileged college dropout with a penchant for pot and bastardized Buddhist tendencies. Iggy looks up to Mo because he thinks he's smart and super chill, but as the story goes on it's easy to see that Mo has idealized the idea of poverty and choosing to do without. Iggy and Mo are bored and Mo agrees to try to help Iggy come up with a good idea for Iggy to win over the Superintendant at the upcoming expulsion hearing. Instead, Iggy ends up showing Mo where to find more drugs, because Iggy is hoping to locate his absentee mother, who's been 'out visiting' for several weeks.

Mo ends up buying more drugs than he can pay for, so he owes Freddie the dealer several thousand dollars. Iggy realizes what a terrible position Mo is in, so he agrees to help Mo pay off Freddie. Mo and Iggy go to visit Mo's mom, who Mo hasn't had contact with for some time. Mo's mom turns out to be a rich, doting, full-time volunteer. Mo plans to use his mom's guilt against her to get the drug money and it backfires. She refuses to give him the money (she doesn't know it's to pay off a drug dealer) and in the meantime Iggy ends up bonding with her and he tells her about his potential expulsion. Mo's mom takes Iggy in and treats him to an expensive haircut and lends him Mo's clothes for the hearing, all while Mo tries to figure out how to get the money from his mom.

While giving Mo some time to try to beg his mom for money, Iggy finds himself at a church looking for some answers as to how to become a hero. It's obvious that Iggy isn't familiar with church, but he ends up deciding to come back for the Christmas Eve service, which is the same night Mo owes the money to Freddie. As much as the reader simply wants Mo to fall off a cliff and have Iggy move in with a functional parent, Iggy realizes he can't take Mo's place. Iggy helps Mo go meet with the drug dealer, Freddie, and Iggy has a last minute plan that helps Mo the way he needs to be helped the most.