Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

 I love Adam Sass on Twitter and Instagram. So when his book came out I knew I was going to read it. As you know I read a lot of LGBTQ+ books and have become a person who can be a resource to kids and families in my job as a bookseller. 

Adam starts the book with a content warning. I will tell you there is talk about suicide and there is pain for these characters, I mean most of the book takes place at a terrible place that is an island conversion camp run by a preacher. To say more about that might spoilers but as he says in the warning, there is pain but the book isn't about pain, it is about the way these teens come together and do what they do even with the pain. They are resilient and amazing and brave. 

Ok, my review. I had a hard time with this one, but not because of Adam or the story. I had a hard time because my mama-bear heart was so angry and wanted to take all these amazing teens home and care for them and tell them how amazing they are. And I was so angry with Connor's parents for so much of this story. 

These teens are all thrown together when they end up at a conversion camp together. Connor, Marcos, Molly, Darcy, Lacrishia, Vance, Alan, Jack, Christina, Anke, and Drew make up the campers. Miss Manners, Briggs, Karaoke Bill, and some other adults work on the island run by the Reverend from Connor's town. 

What these kids go through, what the manage to do, it is impressive. And scary. There is some mystery running through the story, what happened to Ricky (the man who Connor brought meals to), what is the reverend hiding, and who the heck is really in charge.

Something I was left with is that sometimes people become the monsters others make them into. There is some choice involved too, to continue to be that monster or to be better and do better, to break the cycle of hurt. What is the line though between being hurt and acting out and really transforming into the monster under the bed or in the closet? 

I am not sure but it kind of feels like Adam intends to write more about Connor. 

I think this was a really important story and is well done. 

(Finished October 15, 2020)