luce (cry baby)'s Reviews > The Minus-One Club

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“It will hurt. It already hurts. Everything fucking hurts, and still we are bigger than our tragedy. We are not deviant, we are exultant. We are on top of the world. We are bigger than our tragedies.”

The Minus-One Club is a sad, sometimes funny, ultimately bittersweet coming-of-age exploring grief, love, identity, as well as depression, addiction, and faith. The short chapters, some not even a page long, the simple yet punchy prose, and the focus on mental health, make The Minus-One Club the kind of read that is hound to appeal to fans of Benjamin Alire Sáenz and K. Ancrum. The Minus-One Club is the kind of ya book that I would have absolutely loved 10 years ago, but now, I can only ‘just’ like. There were these moments of tenderness that did get to me, and I found the author’s portrayal of grief, acceptance, and sexuality to be realistic, so much so that readers looking for books where everything works out, in the end, should approach The Minus-One Club this with caution.

“It didn’t feel like anything to me,” he says. “I don’t feel anything anymore.”

Our narrator, 15-year-old Kermit Sanders, is bereft. His older sister, died in a car accident, and Kermit’s life will never be the same. His very religious parents seek solace in God and in their local church, but Kermit doesn’t know what to believe anymore. When he returns to school he feels at remove from everything, miles away from the ‘petty’ concerns of other high school students. His best friend, alongside most of the school, doesn’t know how to deal with Kermit’s loss, so they either proffer unwanted platitudes or avoid him altogether. Kermit can’t stop thinking or dreaming of his sister, often hearing her voice in his head. And then he finds in his locker a mysterious invitation that leads him to the “Minus-One Club”. The club is made up of five other students, all of whom have ‘lost’ someone. They meet up after school, to play cards together or other games. They offer a weird type of moral support as they are never to discuss their losses. The club is in fact a place where they want to be free of other people’s sorrys, or have to talk about their feelings. Here they can just be. Despite belonging to different ‘social’ groups, and not being able to talk about ‘stuff’, their bond is an unspoken one.

Kermit finds himself growing particularly close to one club member, Matt, a seemingly happy-go-lucky guy who happens to be their school’s only ‘out’ gay student. The more time they spend together, the stronger Kermit’s feelings for Matt become so that soon enough his crush develops into something harder to ignore. But spending time with Matt and the club sees Kermit drift away from his parents. Not only do they impose stultifying rules on Kermit but they expect, demand even, that he continue to attend church and take part in church-related activities. As Kermit realizes that Matt may feel the same as he does for him, he struggles to reconcile his sexuality with his faith. Not only is his church particularly homophobic but his parents are too. As Kermit tries to unlearn those beliefs that have made him view his desires and himself as sinful, and wrong, he is forced to decide whether he can continue ‘pretending’ to be someone that he is not.

Kermit and Matt’s relationship however is further jeopardized by Matt’s own troubles. Despite his carefree attitude, Matt is not doing well at all, and as his drinking worsens it falls Kermit, and all of the club really, have to confront the dangers of keeping silent about their grief and their pain.
In addition to exploring the realities of grief and depression, Kekla Magoon touches on peer pressure, both when it comes to drinking and having sex, and bullying. Some of the characters act in ways that are, to put it mildly, problematic, but rather than condemning them, we are made to understand what and how they may have come to behave in such a way. I appreciated the empathy Magoon shows her characters and the sensitivity she demonstrates in treating such complex issues. My heart went out to Kermit, Matt (flawed as he is), and the rest of the club. I liked that the ending is hopeful yet realistic, in that some things remain (for the time) unresolved. I also appreciated that the story not only shows how grief expresses itself differently in different people (some like matt develop a self-destructive streak, others find thesmelves questioning theri faith, some cry, others don't, etc.) but the repercussions of having emotionally abusive and/or neglectful parents. Kermit's parents fail or refuse to, recognise his grief as 'genuine' (because he hasn't cried), or allow him to be himself. They even try to stop him from spending time with Matt, even when that's what makes him happy and pressure him to go to church even when he expresses the desire not to. Superficially Matt's father may seem great, given that doesn't care whether Matt goes to parties or who he brings back home with him. But, after certain events later in the story, Kermit comes to realize just how hurtful it can be to know that your parent doesn't really think of you. Another strength of The Minus-One Club was that Magoon doesn't gloss over Kermit's internalised homophobia nor is his faith depicted simplistically as Magoon takes time to explore the whys & hows of his fraught relationship to his religion and his parents.
While I could have done without the 3-page farting/dream sequence (maybe that’s just me) I did find those sillier moments between Kermit and Matt or between Kermit and his sister, to add much-needed levity to the story. The chapter titles also provided a source of humor.

Anyway, if you are looking for a ya read that will pull at your heartstrings, look no further. I know I said earlier on that I didn't love this, I just liked it, but now that I have thought back to it, I can honestly say that I am fond of this book. Kermit, Matt, and the rest of the club got to me. They have these very wholesome moments that felt so very precious. Also, I think this book delivers several important lessons in a way that felt authentic and poignant (as opposed to contrived and 'preachy').
And while not everything is resolved by the end, those final pages were rewarding and full of heart. Ultimately, the book shows the importance of being honest, about your feelings, ugly or sad as they may be, of being there for your friends, even when they try to tell you nothing is the matter and everything is a-okay, and that sometimes, you can't just 'get on with things' or push through it, and you have to allow yourself time, to feel, and maybe even, one day, heal.