Finding Stinko (review)

A dozen years in foster care have left Newboy guarded, suspicious, and, for the last three years, completely mute. Finally, he flees the home of the Knoxes, his cruel and mercenary current foster parents; in a dumpster, he finds a ventriloquist's dummy, whom he names Stinko and who becomes Newboy's voice. On the streets, Newboy finds a shadowy network of kids on their own, some powerful, some at the mercy of the powerful, and he develops the idea of fleeing the city for a new life with his new allies, if they can get away from the street overlords and the pursuing Knoxes. Between the chaotic underground milieu and resonant nicknames of the street kids and the relentless threat of recapture by the villainous Knoxes, the elements here are Dickensian gothic, yet de Guzman's style is spare and laconic, making for an interesting combination. Newboy's mutism is effectively employed; while Stinko operates in a well-established tradition by voicing even sentiments that Newboy knows would be better unsaid, the dialogue—sometimes between Newboy and Stinko—is crisp and sardonic. The city existence created is believable yet slightly surreal, making for a world wherein the kids' eventual escape to Florida seems a viable solution rather than just a relocation of their problems. Drawing on both orphan stories and hard-bitten urban survival sagas, this will appeal to a range of reading tastes, satisfying both those kids who long for escape and those who yearn to see everybody find a place.