One for Sorrow
#27: One for Sorrow
Chris Barzak
My book, ordered on the recommendation of a couple other folks.
Adam's life seems to be going from bad to worse; his mother is paralyzed in an accident, which causes even more strife and arguments between his parents, and one of the boys in his class is found murdered. Jamie's ghost is still around, though, and Adam's ties to his own life become thinner and thinner the more he depends on Jamie. A coming-of-age ghost story.
Overall I liked this a lot, and it's really good for a first novel and certainly deserving of all the notice it's getting. Very readable, and pretty much spot-on about being a kid in a dysfunctional family and not being able to realize what is and isn't "normal" or healthy in a family, and not being able to see a way out, which is something I can sympathize with.
The only nitpick I had was the ending, but admittedly it's more from my own personal bias than because it isn't the right ending for the story. Seems too easy, and one thing feels a little like too much of a surprise to be believable, but it might just be me.
And now I'm bummed because he was at ICFA where his book won an award, and I'm only just now reading it. -sigh- Though I didn't need to carry more books there anyhow.
Chris Barzak
My book, ordered on the recommendation of a couple other folks.
Adam's life seems to be going from bad to worse; his mother is paralyzed in an accident, which causes even more strife and arguments between his parents, and one of the boys in his class is found murdered. Jamie's ghost is still around, though, and Adam's ties to his own life become thinner and thinner the more he depends on Jamie. A coming-of-age ghost story.
Overall I liked this a lot, and it's really good for a first novel and certainly deserving of all the notice it's getting. Very readable, and pretty much spot-on about being a kid in a dysfunctional family and not being able to realize what is and isn't "normal" or healthy in a family, and not being able to see a way out, which is something I can sympathize with.
The only nitpick I had was the ending, but admittedly it's more from my own personal bias than because it isn't the right ending for the story. Seems too easy, and one thing feels a little like too much of a surprise to be believable, but it might just be me.
And now I'm bummed because he was at ICFA where his book won an award, and I'm only just now reading it. -sigh- Though I didn't need to carry more books there anyhow.