Crutcher, Chris. Deadline. New York: Greenwillow, 2007. Print.
Chris Crutcher's Deadline keeps readers begging for more, as he pulls on heartstrings, touches nerves, and tackles tough issues facing teens today. Crutcher really develops the core set of characters very well, while the rest of the cast is somewhat static. However, each character serves his or her purpose in moving the story along stupendously. Ben Wolfe, the main character, is diagnosed with a terminal illness, one that will kill him within the year. He refuses treatment, keeps the illness a secret, even from his family, and throughout the last year of his life, learns more about himself, others, and life than most people do in a lifetime. Sam, his brother, remains somewhat of a static character, with some dynamic development moments. Rudy, the town drunk, becomes a confidant and friend of Ben, and is probably one of the more developed of Crutcher's characters in the book, especially when we find out his shocking secret. The rest of the characters include, Dallas Suzuki (Ben's love interest), Ben's parents, Coach, Sooner (the school bully), and Mr. Lambeer (his Civics teacher).
The theme of this book is finding oneself, and learning that everyone has baggage, and we can't expect to handle things on our own, or our baggage will weigh us down until we fall. He tackles tough issues in dealing with this theme, and does a stupendous job of doing so. Through tackling tough issues like rape, drunk driving, domestic violence, terminal illness, and much more, Crutcher is able to weave a story like no other to truly make readers step back, and search their own lives, to see if they are truly living life to its fullest. When Ben is confronted with others' baggage, he becomes more and more tempted to share his own, but is it the right thing to do? Will Ben reveal his secret? Will the doctors save him in time? Why does he dream of a man named Hey-Soos? Read the book, and find out.
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Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. New York: Washington Square, 2008. Print.
Jodi Picoult's thought provoking novel, Nineteen Minutes, takes readers on a journey, and teaches readers that everything is not what it seems. The main theme of this book is that we can't take people at face value, and even then, who are we to judge where a person really is in their life? We are all people, and we all weave tangled webs. We find instances of judgment, lies, happiness, and doing what we can to survive saturated throughout this book.
Peter Houghton has been bullied all of his life, and one day he comes into his school, kills ten people, injures many more, and is then apprehended, but the damage is already done. Nineteen Minutes starts at the beginning, describes the shooting in detail, and then Picoult jumps every other chapter, present time, and then, starting years ago, times leading up to the present. As Peter is carted off to be questioned, he breaks down during questioning. Soon after this, the book flashes back to years ago, before Peter was born. We learn through a series of flashbacks that Peter's mother and Alex Cormier, another character's mother, were best friends, while Peter and Josie, Alex's daughter, grew up as best friends, and as their parents grew apart, so did Peter and Josie. The farther Peter was pushed from Josie, the more secluded, bullied, and desperate he became. He had no friends, other than a boy named Derek, and spent his time making computer games of doom, focused on the school. Who wouldn't be a ticking time bomb?
Picoult does a great job in all of her books, so I'm told, in making character development a focal point of her writing Nineteen Minutes is no exception. The two main teenage characters of the book are a great example of this. Peter, who has been bullied all of his life, is in jail, and is hated by readers from the beginning. However, as the book progresses, Picoult had readers second guessing themselves, Peter, and everyone in the book's motivations for everything they do. Josie Cormier, a "former" friend of Peter's, is probably one of the main protagonists in the book, however Picoult's unique way of writing really doesn't let readers become completely sure of protagonists and antagonists, even towards the end of the book. Josie starts out as a victim, her boyfriend murdered by Peter, but as the book progresses, we learn more and more about her, her relationship with her boyfriend, Matt, her relationship with Peter, and her relationships with everyone around her. We learn that no matter who we are, in high school, and even in life, the tangled webs we weave will always eventually come crashing down around us, trapping us in our own stick set of lies.
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