and the shadows took him
I finished this book a few days ago, and ever since then Joey has haunted me. I think of him every time I make a decision that does nothing to move me forward in life. I loved this book. I felt like it address' the real issue in regards to success or failure in life; personal choice. There are always outside factors and influences in our life, but ultimately we choose our path.
It was frustrating to watch Joey continually make destructive choices in his life, but it made me recognized how I do the same thing in my own life. Of course, it's to a lesser degree, I'm not in a gang or taking PCP, but I struggle nonetheless.
I felt like the ending was about choice also. Chacon left it open to the readers choice, as to what would become of Joey. I was really glad he did this. Had he given us Joey's fate in the end, it would have taken away the need to really think about what happened and what it all meant. There is always that initial let down when the ending isn't exactly what you were hoping for; neat, tidy and happy, but once I got over that and really thought through it, I saw that it was the best possible way for him to end it.
The only thing that I felt didn't fit was the rape of Amy. Yes, William was a big jerk, but up until we get to Oregon he never showed signs of being that big of a jerk. It just seemed like it came out of the blue.
It was frustrating to watch Joey continually make destructive choices in his life, but it made me recognized how I do the same thing in my own life. Of course, it's to a lesser degree, I'm not in a gang or taking PCP, but I struggle nonetheless.
I felt like the ending was about choice also. Chacon left it open to the readers choice, as to what would become of Joey. I was really glad he did this. Had he given us Joey's fate in the end, it would have taken away the need to really think about what happened and what it all meant. There is always that initial let down when the ending isn't exactly what you were hoping for; neat, tidy and happy, but once I got over that and really thought through it, I saw that it was the best possible way for him to end it.
The only thing that I felt didn't fit was the rape of Amy. Yes, William was a big jerk, but up until we get to Oregon he never showed signs of being that big of a jerk. It just seemed like it came out of the blue.
posted by Mr. Oneth at 3:47 PM
3 Comments:
I liked your insights; Joey haunts me also. I think the sub plot of William raping Amy was meant to be a catalylist for the family falling apart-- the breaking point for Rachel. Did you get a chance to meet the author? do you have any advice on writing the review? Val
I get what your saying about the rape, but didn't it seem abrupt? It seemed to me that if William were to have done something like hurt Joey to the point of hospitilization, that would have been more in character, but then again, that wouldn't have worked for the ending....good thing I'm not writing the book!
I didn't know that the author was going to be at JC till I read it here. Did you go? If you did, did He offer any interesting insights? I've got serious anxiety about writing the review, I haven't even started my proposal. I really liked what you had to say in your post, I agree and got a lot of the same things from the book.
melanie
Just to clarify, I'm not Mr. Oneth, that is my husband who is a school teacher and he already had a blogg acount for his class here, so now I get to be Mr. Oneth. I couldn't figure out how to change it!
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