THE SCIENCE OF BEING ANGRY

An angry girl learns to cope.

Nobody understands why 11-year-old Joey does the things she does. Not even Joey. She throws things, kicks, hits, yells, and calls other kids names. When the novel opens, she gets her family—her two moms, her identical twin brothers (she’s the fraternal triplet), and her nonbiological mom’s older son, Benny—evicted from their apartment after she punches a security guard. A class project on genetics, framed as nature vs. nurture, gives Joey the idea of tracking down her sperm donor to find out if he also has anger management issues. Melleby gets readers inside Joey’s head, making them empathize with a frustrating, unlikable, and regularly violent main character, an impressive feat. Some parts of the novel don’t quite hang together, like an early reference to Joey’s moms being “ridiculously strict about certain gender-related things, like girls wearing shirts outside,” even though one mom hates dresses and both support her playing hockey on an otherwise all-boys team. Some hints are dropped about the triplets’ donor’s identity that never get resolved, and the genetics assignment is a convenient but shakily executed plot device. Regardless, this is powerfully crafted with a satisfying conclusion, and it tackles uncommon but critical themes with nuance and complexity. Main characters are White.

A strong novel about strong feelings.