Uses for Boys - Erica Lorraine Scheidt

Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: January 15, 2013
Source/Format: Publisher (Thanks Macmillan!) || Paperback

[I received this book from the publisher. This in no way affects the thoughts expressed in my review.]

Anna remembers a time before boys, when she was little and everything made sense. When she and her mom were a family, just the two of them against the world. But now her mom is gone most of the time, chasing the next marriage, bringing home the next stepfather. Anna is left on her own—until she discovers that she can make boys her family.

From Desmond to Joey, Todd to Sam, Anna learns that if you give boys what they want, you can get what you need. But the price is high. The other kids make fun of her; the girls call her a slut. Anna's new friend, Toy, seems to have found a way around the loneliness, but Toy has her own secrets that even Anna can't know. 

Then comes Sam. When Anna actually meets a boy who is more than just useful, whose family eats dinner together, laughs, and tells stories, the truth about love becomes clear. And she finally learns how it feels to have something to lose—and something to offer.(from Goodreads)

Honestly, I’m still not quite sure what I’d like to say about Uses for Boys. This is not to say that I think this is an awful book. On the contrary, I think that despite being a very dark tale, one filled with sorrow and heaviness that weighs on your heart, it’s one that really opens up a new level of reality for a reader. I can’t say I enjoyed what I was reading, but I can say that it opened my eyes to a few new things.

One of my strongest reactions to this book was the urge to simply protect Anna. For the most part, I wanted to bring her someplace safe and warm, where she could feel love and kindness and care. But this also sometimes translated into me mentally yelling at her that she’s doing stupid things (and that happened quite a few times!). Her fragility, lack of stability and passive submission to many of the things that happened to her made me sad and kept me worried about what would happen next. However, the occasional peeks into her independent and creative nature kept me hoping that she would turn out just fine.

Since this book is about her, I obviously thought about Anna a lot. Overall, I was faced with the question of whether it really was in Anna’s nature to act as she did, or if it was the (lack of) nurture from her mother that forced her into questionable situations. It’s a question I still can’t answer, and I can appreciate the fact that this book actually makes me think and debate and wonder about this. (And if you’ve read it, you’re welcome to sound off in the comments!)

Thanks to the various reviews I’d read before starting the book, I wasn’t too shocked by the explicit content – from masturbation, to sex, to abortion. Even though these things are realities that I’ve never had to face personally, I thought it was an accurate portrayal of someone’s possible reality in this world. It helped me to understand people who are in Anna’s situation a little better, and that was worth reading all the hard, humiliating, confusing stuff that Anna went through.

This story definitely surprised me with its gritty portrayal of Anna and her life, but at the same time, I thought it was very well done. If you’re looking for a contemporary filled with romance or one with a happy ending, this is not the book for you. But if you’re up for reading a grittier, realistic contemporary novel that covers one girl’s issues with relationships and her own self-worth, Uses for Boys might just be the book you’re looking for.