The Radius of Us by Marie Marquardt (review)

Eighteen-year-old Gretchen suffers panic attacks in the aftermath of being mugged by a Latino gang member; she wasn’t raped, but she’s not telling the whole story of the attack either. Phoenix scooped up his younger brother, Ari, and fled from his home in El Salvador to escape gang violence, only to encounter atrocities even more vicious on their way through Mexico to the U.S. for asylum. When Gretchen spots Phoenix in her Atlanta neighborhood, she immediately freaks, thinking that he is her attacker, but after she convinces herself he is not, she forces herself to find and confront him, first apologizing and then, of course, falling in love with the quiet, sensitive boy who knows what it’s like to live through a traumatic experience. Phoenix’s story, which includes some of his artwork, is horrific and his experiences have left both physical and emotional marks on him, complicating any simplistic view, on either side, of the immigration debate. Gretchen’s trauma is not left behind either, and while she realizes that she shouldn’t use Phoenix as a salve for her own troubles, she can’t deny that it sometimes works that way. By putting an emotionally compelling spin on a timely issue, Gretchen and Phoenix’s story is sure to engender sympathy for teen asylum seekers.