Silver Wolves
In Jerome Charyn’s engaging novel Silver Wolves, a teenager is thrust into a leadership role that clashes with his opportunities to build a better life.
In the 1950s in New York, Jonah is held in a correctional facility for carrying stolen goods. His older brother Michael—the leader of a local gang, the Silver Wolves—is incarcerated for the long term, leading to hopelessness: “all my brother had [was] the remembrance of a gang he started when he was eleven, when he scrubbed the dirt off a wounded wolf.” Michael’s absence leaves Jonah to take over the gang and protect his neighborhood from rivals.
Jonah’s contemporaries see him as weak and untested, though. Soon, powerful outside forces take an interest in the gang’s power dynamics and try to influence the teenagers. Further, as the novel progresses, problems that seemed to have faded away reemerge without warning, and key allies disappear when they’re needed most, leading to complications.
Jonah narrates, revealing his state of mind with clarity throughout. He proves to be a well-rounded hero. A talented artist, he is selected to attend a prestigious art school; there, he impresses his teachers and falls in love with the daughter of a former presidential speechwriter. He is torn between his desire to do what is right, his hopes and dreams, and the realities of his tough situations. Jonah does what he can for his mother, who works long shifts at a chocolate factory while his father is in a psychiatric hospital. Indeed, Jonah’s home life is a source of both love and additional stress. His relationship with his girlfriend, Merle, is sweet and endures its own set of challenges.
In the moving coming-of-age novel Silver Wolves, a complex teenager deals with competing loyalties while trying to forge a new identity.
Reviewed by
Jeff Fleischer
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