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elmeeks's review
3.0
Rating: *** Upon closer examination this turned out to be three novelettes which featured characters from earlier Chris Crutcher novels. Since this is my first Chris Crutcher novel, I found it hard to say if I would have liked the novelettes better or worse having read the original books the characters are from. I did not really think the Chris Crutcher set up the book with the character of Nat being the leader of group therapy that all the characters went to was well thought out.
Plot:
Story 1: Has Angus and Sarah Brynes as the main characters. Angus and Sarah start dating. Angus takes Sarah to see her mother who abandoned her when she was little.
Characters: Angus is an overweight teens with homosexual parents. He is shy, loyal, caring. Sarah is an emotionally and physically scared teen who is very guarded.
Story 2: Montana West is a rebellious adopted teenager who wants the school newspaper to publish her article on medical marijuana. Her adopted father is the head of the school board and refuses to allow the paper to print articles that deal with controversial topics.
Characters: Montana is very head strong. She is very caring towards her foster sister Tara. Trey Chase is apparently a bit of a lady’s man. He is handsome, smart, and a good athlete. He helps Montana with her cause.
Story 3: Marcus James is the only black student in his high school. He also happens to be openly gay as well. One day Marcus walks into school to find a pink noose hanging from his locker. This story deals with hate crimes and how schools choose to deal or not deal with them.
Characters: Marcus is smart, witty, confident. Matt Miller is a wrestler who stands up for what he believes even if it goes against what his friends think or it gets him in trouble.
Themes: bigotry, abuse, foster care, free speech, growing up, teachers as mentors, hate crimes
Additional Information: I’d be interested to know if people who have read other Chris Crutcher books with these characters in them like this collection of short stories.
Plot:
Story 1: Has Angus and Sarah Brynes as the main characters. Angus and Sarah start dating. Angus takes Sarah to see her mother who abandoned her when she was little.
Characters: Angus is an overweight teens with homosexual parents. He is shy, loyal, caring. Sarah is an emotionally and physically scared teen who is very guarded.
Story 2: Montana West is a rebellious adopted teenager who wants the school newspaper to publish her article on medical marijuana. Her adopted father is the head of the school board and refuses to allow the paper to print articles that deal with controversial topics.
Characters: Montana is very head strong. She is very caring towards her foster sister Tara. Trey Chase is apparently a bit of a lady’s man. He is handsome, smart, and a good athlete. He helps Montana with her cause.
Story 3: Marcus James is the only black student in his high school. He also happens to be openly gay as well. One day Marcus walks into school to find a pink noose hanging from his locker. This story deals with hate crimes and how schools choose to deal or not deal with them.
Characters: Marcus is smart, witty, confident. Matt Miller is a wrestler who stands up for what he believes even if it goes against what his friends think or it gets him in trouble.
Themes: bigotry, abuse, foster care, free speech, growing up, teachers as mentors, hate crimes
Additional Information: I’d be interested to know if people who have read other Chris Crutcher books with these characters in them like this collection of short stories.
sumayyah_t's review
5.0
Not just for teens! All 3 novellas were excellent. The final novella, however, hits the hardest and is guaranteed to spark a discussion, or at least some deep thinking. Wonderful job, Chris Crutcher.
clarkco's review
4.0
Crutcher revisits some old characters and fleshs out some minor characters in this collection of three short stories.
bick_mcswiney's review
4.0
Crutcher takes supporting characters from his other books and mashes them up into three short stories, all told with his trademark panache. This book doesn't hit as hard as some of his others, but it's still darn good.
breannamorgan's review
3.0
I didn't like this book much... it was sad and depressing, and I can usually live with those, but there wasn't any closure with the characters. It was three short novellas, and once one was done you never heard from the characters again. They all led sad lives and never found a resolution to their problems! I was not impressed, it was well written, but poorly thought out, in my opinion. I expected a lot more from Chris Crutcher
falconerreader's review
4.0
3 stars for the framework and the middle story.
4 stars for the first story.
5 stars for the last story. Ye Gods.
Hearing Crutcher speak on a panel at last fall's NCTE conference lends weight to my appreciation of his writing. He grew up in the inland Northwest. He's done counseling of kids who have been through shit like his characters have been through. He's the real deal.
4 stars for the first story.
5 stars for the last story. Ye Gods.
Hearing Crutcher speak on a panel at last fall's NCTE conference lends weight to my appreciation of his writing. He grew up in the inland Northwest. He's done counseling of kids who have been through shit like his characters have been through. He's the real deal.
tmaluck's review
3.0
As Crutcher himself has said, grief must be written in its native language or else it will ring false. This trio of stories speaks grief in tongues, both audible and covert. The plots are a little too neatly constructed for my taste, but Crutcher's gifts for voice and establishing true-to-life dramas are a pleasure to manage.
rovertoak's review
5.0
You'll experience so many emotions/feelings (sue me, I'm a hack writer/reviewer) while reading these novellas -- and if you don't, feel free to turn your membership card to the human race in at the desk on your way out.
samcarlin's review
5.0
This is every Crutcher fan's dream, combining characters from different books to make up three short stories. so good.
trogdor19's review
4.0
When I was first thinking about writing this review, I thought I would say that some authors only have one or two good books in them, and when they have written those books they should stop and move on to something else. Chris Crutcher wrote his two books and they were Deadline and Whale Talk.
However, as I got closer to finishing this book, I changed my mind.
Crutcher writes about love and evil and hate in all their forms, about the courage to stand up against injustice and how hard it can be to live the life you've been given. Maybe those kinds of stories need to be told, over and over again, in whatever form you can give them. Yes, he wrote two outstanding books with those themes, but perhaps with messages like those you SHOULD just keep writing and writing in the hope that someday, those messages (except the one about love) will no longer be relevant.
However, as I got closer to finishing this book, I changed my mind.
Crutcher writes about love and evil and hate in all their forms, about the courage to stand up against injustice and how hard it can be to live the life you've been given. Maybe those kinds of stories need to be told, over and over again, in whatever form you can give them. Yes, he wrote two outstanding books with those themes, but perhaps with messages like those you SHOULD just keep writing and writing in the hope that someday, those messages (except the one about love) will no longer be relevant.