Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Feb. 5th, 2012 12:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
How can a pint-sized, smart-ass eighteen-year-old make his mark on the world from Nowheresville, Idaho – especially when he only has one year left to do it? When Ben Wolf learns his senior year of high school will be his last year, period, he is determined to go out in a blaze of glory.
That means not letting anyone know about his diagnosis. It means trying out for the football team. It means giving his close-minded civics teacher a daily migraine. It means going for the amazingly perfect, fascinating Dallas Suzuki.
But living with a secret isn’t easy … What will Ben do when he realizes he isn’t the only person who’s keeping one?
Always small for his age, 18-year-old Ben Wolf was kept back a year at school. A smart kid with a smarter mouth and a gift for cross-country running, he’s in the same year as his younger brother, Cody, who’s twice his size and the star quarterback of the school’s high school team. Ben’s unsure what to do after graduation when his annual physical exam reveals terrible news. Ben has a rare and terminal blood disorder and only has a year to live. Although treatment may extend that time, there’s no cure.
Instead of prolonging the inevitable, Ben decides to make the most of his final year, trying out for the football team, challenging his narrow-minded civics teacher and finally getting up the courage to ask out the distinctive and individual Dallas Suzuki. But living life to the full means keeping his condition secret from everyone and that poses challenges of its own, especially when he discovers that everyone else has their own secrets too ...
Chris Crutcher’s YA novel is a tragic, hilarious, moving and thought-provoking look at how a teenage boy deals with the knowledge of his own mortality and prepares for death.
The voice is pitch perfect. Ben’s a self-confessed smart-ass, but Crutcher shows his doubt, confusion and his fear as he tries to come to terms with his diagnosis and his last year, just as he shows his elation at his success on the football team and his courtship of Dallas Suzuki. I particularly loved his relationship with his brother Cody, with Crutcher showing genuine affection between the two that I found touching.
For a book with a serious subject, there’s a lot of humour in it, notably in the confrontations between Ben and his conservative civics teacher, Mr Lambeer, as Ben pushes him on the subject of his project to get a street named after Malcolm X. As a Brit, I didn’t fully understand some of the football references (although this didn’t stop me from understanding the plot) and I couldn’t relate to the references to Malcolm X’s greatness, but this didn’t spoil the overall story.
My only criticism was that the cumulative reveal of other people’s secrets began to read like a soap opera given that they’re all so awful – especially for such a small town. Other than this, it’s a great read and I’ll be checking out more of Crutcher’s work.
The Verdict:
Chris Crutcher’s YA novel is a tragic, hilarious, moving and thought-provoking look at how a teenage boy deals with the knowledge of his own mortality. Although it’s very US-centric and some of the football references went over my head, the story itself is a great read and I will definitely be checking out more of Crutcher’s work.
How can a pint-sized, smart-ass eighteen-year-old make his mark on the world from Nowheresville, Idaho – especially when he only has one year left to do it? When Ben Wolf learns his senior year of high school will be his last year, period, he is determined to go out in a blaze of glory.
That means not letting anyone know about his diagnosis. It means trying out for the football team. It means giving his close-minded civics teacher a daily migraine. It means going for the amazingly perfect, fascinating Dallas Suzuki.
But living with a secret isn’t easy … What will Ben do when he realizes he isn’t the only person who’s keeping one?
Always small for his age, 18-year-old Ben Wolf was kept back a year at school. A smart kid with a smarter mouth and a gift for cross-country running, he’s in the same year as his younger brother, Cody, who’s twice his size and the star quarterback of the school’s high school team. Ben’s unsure what to do after graduation when his annual physical exam reveals terrible news. Ben has a rare and terminal blood disorder and only has a year to live. Although treatment may extend that time, there’s no cure.
Instead of prolonging the inevitable, Ben decides to make the most of his final year, trying out for the football team, challenging his narrow-minded civics teacher and finally getting up the courage to ask out the distinctive and individual Dallas Suzuki. But living life to the full means keeping his condition secret from everyone and that poses challenges of its own, especially when he discovers that everyone else has their own secrets too ...
Chris Crutcher’s YA novel is a tragic, hilarious, moving and thought-provoking look at how a teenage boy deals with the knowledge of his own mortality and prepares for death.
The voice is pitch perfect. Ben’s a self-confessed smart-ass, but Crutcher shows his doubt, confusion and his fear as he tries to come to terms with his diagnosis and his last year, just as he shows his elation at his success on the football team and his courtship of Dallas Suzuki. I particularly loved his relationship with his brother Cody, with Crutcher showing genuine affection between the two that I found touching.
For a book with a serious subject, there’s a lot of humour in it, notably in the confrontations between Ben and his conservative civics teacher, Mr Lambeer, as Ben pushes him on the subject of his project to get a street named after Malcolm X. As a Brit, I didn’t fully understand some of the football references (although this didn’t stop me from understanding the plot) and I couldn’t relate to the references to Malcolm X’s greatness, but this didn’t spoil the overall story.
My only criticism was that the cumulative reveal of other people’s secrets began to read like a soap opera given that they’re all so awful – especially for such a small town. Other than this, it’s a great read and I’ll be checking out more of Crutcher’s work.
The Verdict:
Chris Crutcher’s YA novel is a tragic, hilarious, moving and thought-provoking look at how a teenage boy deals with the knowledge of his own mortality. Although it’s very US-centric and some of the football references went over my head, the story itself is a great read and I will definitely be checking out more of Crutcher’s work.
