Showing posts with label violence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label violence. Show all posts

In the Path of Falling Objects Review

In the Path of Falling Objects
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Brothers Jonah and Simon head out across the desert to find their father who is about to be released from prison in Arizona. Their mother has been gone for days, weeks even, perhaps, and their older brother is fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. It is 1970.
Enter Mitch and Lilly, a man and a girl, who pick the two hitchhikers up in a stylish and out-of-place convertible. Jonah is immediately drawn to the beautiful and flirtatious Lilly but feels wary of the unpredictable Mitch. Simon, on the other hand, is quick to please Mitch, enjoying his rakish intensity.
As Jonah struggles to put family first, he finds himself pitted against a man more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. The two boys soon find themselves hostage to the psychotic Mitch and they risk their lives to save Lilly and each other.
And then, of course, there is the gun.
Andrew Smith's In the Path of Falling Objects is an intense and nerve-wracking novel that intersperses Jonah's account of his and Simon's journey with letters from their older brother in Vietnam. The book begins with a shocking murder and the feeling of being trapped, of impending doom, of fear only increases the deeper you wade into this book. The tension is almost too much--I wish Andrew Smith had allowed for some space in the novel to breathe a sigh of relief and relax--but it all builds to a heart-stopping climax that will leave readers on the edge of their seats.
Be warned: there is much violence and death; Mitch is one of the most incredibly disturbing characters I have come across in YA fiction. Readers who like gritty, intense novels will want to give this a try. Everyone else should read this knowing it just might give you nightmares.


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Black Rabbit Summer Review

Black Rabbit Summer
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I came to discover this book in a truly bizarre way - I won a pre-release proof copy in a gift basket of books at a raffle. I have no idea where it came from. I will also state up-front that I am over 40 years old, and not your typical demographic for this book. While I found this book to be a very easy read, it was also incredibly suspenseful and I enjoyed it tremendously. I read it over the course of a few days rather than my typical "few weeks". The characterizations are very well done; even though there is very little descriptive prose (and TONS of dialog) you get a very good internal image of these young people. I agree with most of what the previous reviewer wrote, with a couple of exceptions: 1) The dialog is a little too realistic - characters say "What?" at least a hundred times in this book, only to have the previous line of dialog re-stated. It feels realistic, and helps drive home some points, but it is overused and becomes agonizingly tedious (unless it was changed after the pre-release copy) and 2) while it is not glamorized, these kids get drunk, smoke dope, take drugs, have sex, lie, commit strong acts of violence, and get themselves in way over their head. The "F" word is used about 100 times. A mature reader might understand the lessons found between the lines, but I'm afraid other, less mature readers, might see all these recognizable characters doing unacceptable things and somehow legitimize their behavior. None of these characters have any redeeming values, other than the friedship and loyalty between two of them, nor should any of them serve as role models. Maybe I'm an overly protective parent, but I strongly disagree with rating of "12 and older" in my advance copy. A 12 year old will have nightmares for a week. Maybe a mature 15 or 16. This is Stephen King type stuff, toned down only a *little* bit.
Despite these warnings, Black Rabbit Summer really was a wonderful surprise, and a very good story. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could.


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