A List of Cages - Robin Roe

A List of Cages by Robin Roe
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he’s got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn’t easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can’t complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian—the foster brother he hasn’t seen in five years.
Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He’s still kindhearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what’s really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives…

MY OPINION: ******

This is my second time reading this book and my rating has definitely not changed. In fact, the book just got better, if that's even possible.

I mostly read it to refresh my memory as to everything that happened in the book because I always want to recommend it but I forget the main gist of it.

I feel like there were a lot of things that I didn't really understand the first time around but this time I got it and it made me so sad!

The characters in this book were outstanding. They had real personalities and I could feel for them more than ever. Adam was this bumbly, kind, amazing guy who had a kind heart no matter what. Maybe he's a little oblivious, but hey, to be honest, we all kind of are.

Julian is this sweet kid who maybe has a few childlike instincts but is overall a beautiful boy. He doesn't really understand a lot of things and he even lets his uncle abuse him because he thinks that just because he did something wrong, he deserves it.

Russell was this evil convoluted character that you just can't help but hate. He wasn't a 100% detailed character which I think added to my hatred of him because you never really understand why he did what he did, except that he was kind of a sick and disgusting man.

Adam and Julian have a strange relationship, to say the least. Adam's mom used to foster parent Julian and they were reading buddies in elementary school. Adam has never looked down upon Julian or treated him as anything different like kids at school do. Adam is overall a very sweet boy. He treated Julian like a real brother.

Julian's uncle, Russell takes Julian with him to live with him and he refuses to let Adam or his mom visit because he claims he wants Julian to "move on". However, if they had ever just seen the state of his home life, they would have picked up on the various warning signs.

Russell's abuse was heavy. He tries to justify himself every single time, and Julian, being innocent and overly guilty, feels like he deserves the whippings and everything because he believes what Russell says. He doesn't seem to understand that no child should be put through that. My biggest problem with all of this was the trunk.

Nobody can lock a kid in a trunk for NINETEEN days and expect to be okay. Julian's description of it was so cloistering and depressing that I could almost feel everything he was feeling. I felt sick to my stomach every time I had to read his perspective on how things were. Russell was so SICK that I just couldn't breathe or stand it.

And then we realize that Russell is a sick old man who TAPES the whippings and beatings and keeps it locked up in a drawer. We see that he makes Julian shave his legs because he wants him to look more like a girl or a young child, which is creepy and pedophilic to say the least.

I love this book. I can honestly say that this is the only book I love without romance in it (that's a huge feat. And no, Emerald and Adam do not count because they were just on the side and weren't even that romantic if you think about it.)

I would recommend this book to readers who are looking for something heavy and serious.

Main Character: Adam, Julian
Sidekick(s): Charlie, Emerald, Jesse, Allison, Camila, etc
Villain(s): Russell, abuse, death, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: All of this could happen in real life.