A Place for Wolves by Kosoko Jackson

Abstract

Reviewed by: A Place for Wolves by Kosoko Jackson Wesley Jacques Jackson, Kosoko A Place for Wolves. Sourcebooks Fire, 2019 [320p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4926-7365-1 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4926-7366-8 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 8-10 [Erratum]: The publisher informs us that Kosoko Jackson's A Place for Wolves, reviewed in the February issue of the Bulletin, will not be published. It’s 1998, and teenager James Mills is in Kosovo because his adopted parents are aid workers, but he’s finally starting to enjoy it largely because of Tomas, his Brazilian boyfriend. Being virtually the only Black person in the cold and gray former Soviet state, and gay at that, James finds in Tomas an unexpected source of tenderness and welcomed distraction from the developing armed conflict between the Serbians and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which eventually puts the expats in mortal danger. Each chapter is paired with a letter to James’ sister from his early Kosovo experiences in 1997, as the novel moves awkwardly from a chatty teen’s account of his world travels and active love life to a too-sweet queer romance across national and linguistic divides to a violent survival story. The politics of the Kosovo War are oversimplified to give James a cartoonish KLA villain to defeat in order to save his mom, dad, and boyfriend, and as he shifts from out-of-his-element foreigner to gun-toting action hero, considerable suspension of disbelief is required. However, the resulting kickass queer representation is a valuable addition, and readers are sure to heave a sigh of relief at the resolution of this truly nerve-racking story. Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois