“Tragedy in the bleakest form strikes when the car that Matt is traveling in is struck by a drunk driver. Suddenly, Matt must learn to deal with a heavy loss, what it means for his life and how he deals with the person that survives: the driver that hit them. Taken in by his godparents, the parents of his best friend, Matt struggles with his own survival in the face of his losses, and deals somewhat with "survivor's guilt" as the days gradually become easier to get through. With the help of his surrogate dad, Matt begins to see that, while forgiveness is not on the immediate radar, it might be possible.
The above synopsis is kinda-sorta what I got out of this young adult book, in between Matt's fascination with his body and his exchanges with his best friend. At less than 180 pages, I was a bit...put off?...by the references to Matt's masturbating and nakedness...not that they were there, but that it wasn't an uncommon theme. The entire book spans about four months and during that time, all of his grief is handled "in house" with his new parents....no counseling, no court for the drunk driver, and other than a couple of nightmares that result in big crying jags, not a lot of mourning.
I suppose that this would be suitable for the age group it's written for: seventh grade boys. As someone who is definitely not one of those, I just felt like things weren't complete and/or didn't fit right. In the end, I didn't feel any kind of growth had happened for the character, even though the words seemed to imply that there had been. It wasn't there for me.”
Jen M wrote this review Sunday, January 15, 2012.
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