By A.S. King
YA Contemporary Fiction
March 2019
Dutton Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-1101994917
Family secrets and the sins of the preceding generation, unrolled as lives unravel, are the basis of Dig by A.S. King. The novel focuses on the youngest generation to face the repercussions of hatred, both bigotry and self-loathing. It is a fascinating, layered, enthralling tale.
The narrative rotates among a group of teens who turn out to be cousins. One boy finds that carrying a snow shovel everywhere gives him a sense of comfort. One girl, called Can I Help You, makes a killing selling drugs through a fast-food drive-through window. Another girl is a self-named Freak who flickers in and out of places. Loretta trains fleas. Malcolm's father is dying of cancer, and they both have found a measure of solace on the beaches of Jamaica.
But the story opens with Marla and Gottfried, a couple who have been married forever. She's amping up the pressure to get the annual family Easter dinner just right, including hiding plastic eggs for grown grandchildren. He's alternating between bemused irritation at her ritual search for perfection, and sorrow for a destroyed nest of robin's eggs.
They are the grandparents of the teens, and those baby birds who never came to be turn out to be a strong metaphor for the spirits of Marla and Gottfried's progeny.
These are the damaged children of damaged parents who were damaged by their own parents. The sins of the father, or in this case, the grandparents, are shown by the way they have affected the children.
One thing that appears in the stories of most characters is the potato. It is a source of both strength and sorrow to every character. It also serves a purpose not only in the actual circumstances of the characters, but in the characterization of the family:
A potato plant. Leaves up top, potatoes down below. All those stems and roots joining the two -- like veins and arteries. His father always said that families were the same. Everything was connected, everything worked in synchronicity.
Gottfried got to see the sun and he got to flower. His kids were harvested from shallow soil. His grandkids, accidental plants for the most part, would eventually mature and one day they, too, would rise from the dirt, their brittle roots still connected.
For King to be able to wrangle such a large cast, with the characters remaining clear, and to bring that cast together, is a grand achievement. How the darkness has entwined each character, and what the future holds for them, are as worthy of praise as any novel written for adults. It's easy to see why Dig was honored as the Printz winner for YA fiction by the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association this year.
The idea of family and how it shapes and supports individuals is portrayed strongly. The sin that stains every family member is stated plainly, but how and why it gained such a stronghold is the novel's biggest weakness. That this sin would stain a family, affecting generations, is uncontested, however.
For the younger members of the family to reach understandings about the important, not just of the sin, but how the stain affects them and whether it should overwhelm them, is conveyed very well. So is a tragedy hanging over the youngest generation:
Taking things for granted is the privilege of existence. The living don't even think about it, same as boys aren't scared to go missing at the mall. Sam as her white cousins can drive over the speed limit across state lines to New Jersey.
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