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A review by chelseymarie
New Kid by Tim Green
3.0
This reads as though the author was abducted by aliens halfway through writing it and someone else went, "eh, probably about good enough," scribbled three more pages of outlining, and called it a day.
Brock's name isn't Brock, and his father is a paranoid schizophrenic who believes they're being followed. He yells at Brock, manhandles him, generally abuses him, disappears on him for days, and drags him from new place to new place. Though Brock denies that his father's mental illness effects him, it begins to show when he becomes to stressed to play well for a local baseball team coached by a notorious alcoholic.
In the last three pages, despite it being very clear in the rest of the book that Brock's dad is seriously ill, his delusions suddenly turn out to be real, Brock is kidnapped, then rescued, then we find out his mom was a secret government agent, Brock decides to live with his alcoholic coach, then decided to go on the lam with his father instead. In three pages. It is a completely bizarre ending to what could have been a really thoughtful, moving book.
Brock's name isn't Brock, and his father is a paranoid schizophrenic who believes they're being followed. He yells at Brock, manhandles him, generally abuses him, disappears on him for days, and drags him from new place to new place. Though Brock denies that his father's mental illness effects him, it begins to show when he becomes to stressed to play well for a local baseball team coached by a notorious alcoholic.
In the last three pages, despite it being very clear in the rest of the book that Brock's dad is seriously ill, his delusions suddenly turn out to be real, Brock is kidnapped, then rescued, then we find out his mom was a secret government agent, Brock decides to live with his alcoholic coach, then decided to go on the lam with his father instead. In three pages. It is a completely bizarre ending to what could have been a really thoughtful, moving book.