Booklist
August 2001

Elliott, Stephen. A Life without Consequences. Oct. 2001. 186p. MacAdam/Cage, $25 (0-9673701-7-5)

A powerful showcase of the failures of the public child protection programs in the U.S., this first novel tells the story of Paul, a boy who leaves home after his physically and emotionally abusive father beats him once too many times. Paul spends a year living on a convenience store's roof before giving up and slitting his wrists. At 14, he enters an endless stream of group homes, including a six-month venture in the notorious Robert Taylor Homes, America's largest housing project, where boys tattoo a tear onto their faces for each murder they've committed. Despite his contempt for authority, periodic drug use, and shortage of role models, Paul is a good student and is kept alive by meaningful relationships with peers, especially his sometimes girlfriend, Tanya. Elliott who like Paul was a homeless teen before becoming a ward of the court, has an insider's knowledge of Chicago's underworld, and although the teenage voice sometimes sounds older, it's easy to see in this compelling story why boys often have to pretend to be men. ­John Green

YA/M: Especially meaningful to teens interested in foster care and child welfare. Brief scenes of explicit sex, violence, and drug use. -JG

Library Journal
October 1, 2001

This debut novel offers the author's recollections of the squalor he experienced as a ward of the state who had to traverse the bureaucracy of Chicago's group homes. The narrator, Paul, runs away from an abusive father and is picked up off the streets and placed in a group home. Many of those he meets bounce from institutions to the streets and have turned to drugs, prostitution, and violence to elude the hopelessness of their lives. Paul escapes from one home with a girl named Tanya, and they live on the streets running from adults who "molest you, fondle you, cheat you out of everything you have." Eventually, they are incarcerated and returned to the perilous cycle that inevitably leads to prison or an early death. Paul finally faces his own fears and is able to transfer to a public school, where he gains the self-esteem needed to take a step out of this cycle. The narrative and heartrending characters give a tragic firsthand picture of the growing dilemma of abandoned children in this country. Recommended for all collections. -David A. Berona, Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham.