By: Bart Yates

Noah York is a closeted gay teenager with a foul mouth, a critical disposition, and plenty of material for his tirades. After his father dies, Noah's mother, a temperamental poet, takes a teaching job in a small New Hampshire town, far from Chicago and the only world Noah has known. While Noah gets along reasonably with his mother, the crumbling house they try to renovate quickly reveals dark secrets, via dusty Mason jars they discover interred between walls. The jars contain scraps of letters, poems, and journal entries, and eventually reconstruct a history of pain and violence that drives a sudden wedge between Noah and his mother. Fortunately, Noah finds an unexpected ally in J. D., a teenager down the street who has family troubles of his own. Rape and other physical violence, alcoholism, and incest--the novel describes these abuses in a brutal, matter-of-fact way that may leave some readers uncomfortable. Most of the time, however, Yates effectively captures the honest, sometimes silly, often tender interactions between his fragile characters.

Ever since J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye, authors have been hoping to create the next Holden Caulfield and critics have hoped to crown a character with that distinction. The latest temptation for comparison is surely Leave Myself Behind, a debut by Bart Yates. Yates' main character and narrator, Noah York, has Caulfield-style teenage authenticity. Noah's voice is more than just honest or original; it's real. The tone of his observations will ring true for anyone who has been around teenagers. This isn't just a novel about a boy dealing with discrimination and fighting for acceptance. Nor is Noah a character for whom sexual orientation is the only developed personality trait. We don't see Noah as simply a gay teen or fatherless child. We see him as a character dealing with life.

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