Tell the Wolves I'm Home question

even though june was 'in love' with her uncle in an emotional way, there were no sexual feelings on her part (or his). as she said in the beginning, she dreamed of people who didn't have to have sex to know they loved each other. she dreamed of people who only ever kissed you on the cheek. so i think the author drew the line there and clarified that there was nothing untoward about the relationship: just a teenager who loved and admired her uncle very deeply. although in the end it turned out she didn't really know him as well as she thought she did, and in fact was 'in love' with toby AND finn. it was a little hard to get your head around in the beginning but it turned out to be an innocent love...

I think she meant she was literally in love with him. That's why she was so embarrassed about it, and why it affected her so much when Toby said, "He was both of our first love." I didn't like it necessarily, because I kept wanting to make it just an uncle/niece love. But there were multiple things in this book that made uncomfortable, LOL. I should add that I did enjoy the book.

But of course she would love Finn. He "got" her and treated her as a person with her own thoughts and interests, instead of just a little kid. He takes her around New York and they share their love of music, art and The Cloisters. While Finn may have been flawed, what preteen would NOT love Finn? For Finn, it is an innocent uncle/niece love. For June, it is understandably something more.

June's feelings didn't make me uncomfortable. She is sad and lonely and trying to deal with the death of a man that meant a great deal to her. She is made to feel guilty about this innocent love because of the secrecy surrounding his death and life.

I loved this book and June and Finn and their broken family.

I loved how broken she was as well. Only briefly I felt awkward,but then I understood. The relationship was touching and relatable. This was one of my favorite books,I read.

Girl crush love. And love IS very confusing--All love. Living in her sister's shadow, being ridiculed by her sister, always feeling different--She needed some unconditional love. Finn embodied that--for both she AND Toby. Lucky, lucky people. (Well, characters...)

I could understand her feelings of love for Finn (and that it was a romantic love). I had an uncle (my mother's younger brother who was thirteen years younger than she was) who I just thought was the coolest guy. I was a little heartbroken when he married, even though I really liked his wife (she was very kind, and I think she probably knew of my feelings just the way Toby did). For my uncle, he still saw me as a kid (as Finn would have seen June). But of course for June, it was something more.

Anyway, the book was one of the best I've read this year.

June had a lot of adolescent issues eg she thought that people didn't like her for her. As all teenagers, she was insecure about herself.
Uncle Finn, made her feel proud to be unique and different. I think she confused that emotion with love, and in the process hated herself for that.

When you're young like June, love isn't so complex, it's just love. The author throws love out there and the interpretation is up to the reader. I loved my uncle and when he met his wife, I was a little hurt, but that is a little girl hurt and a child not knowing all the kinds of love there is. I wish as readers we could just let it be.

I hated the idea was even put out there in the book though, because it tainted her innocent love a little. I really liked this book but it had an uncomfortable feeling because of that.

Love is not inherently sexual. There are a million different breeds of love, and saying that you are "in" love with someone does not automatically switch that love from platonic to romantic.

I think "in love" experiences that are, by social standards, inappropriate happens a lot in "real life". It was brave of Brunt to include it in this book, just to tell us that these feelings are normal, without exploiting it as incest.

Also, Toby had a lot to do with Finn's behavior toward June. Some of the gifts and junkets were actually Toby's idea. She fell "in love" with a romanticized composite.

June commented on types of love in the book, one was the way you love a puppy. Jayne said it best in an above comment. She was not a girl with sexual feelings. I didn't find this incestual at all. There was a lot to love about Finn and Toby.

As a young teen I remember thinking boys my age were so boring, and inept at everything, and awkward. Men seemed much more relaxed, self confident, interesting and mysterious. I think girls are drawn to that combination. Maybe it's socialization, maybe it's a developmental phase as we move away from relationships with our fathers, maybe it's biological, who knows, but I think it's pretty normal. Many of my friends also had crushes on teachers, brother-in-laws, friends older brothers, etc. I think the relationship in the book was very realistic, and sweet, and maybe there was a physical attraction June felt for Finn, but I don't think there was anything sinister about the way Finn felt about June.

Yeah, I just don't understand WHY the story needed this sort of confused and/or actual incest love. Could it not have said what it wanted to with her just being very emotionally attached to him? I adore several people to the point that their passing would leave me very emotionally scared, but I don't think I would need to feel sexually inclined towards them for that to mean anything.