Catcher in the Wry

Steers instills these dull figures -- shadows of shadows is all they are, caricatures whose own family members want nothing to do with them -- with sharp words; he makes them watchable, if not exactly affable. Why Igby is rebelling isn't clear; he just is, because that's what kids his age do when they come from fuckups and don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. That makes Igby repellent, actually, though Steers doesn't judge. He merely observes, with the compassionate grin of someone who just knows.