NEAL SHUSTERMAN

Book Description

Review

From School Library Journal

Grade 8-12-- A disturbing story based on true events. Fourteen-year-old Preston Scott was 12 when his father killed his mother. He narrates the events surrounding the tragedy, struggling to reconcile the hate and love he feels for his father, and attempts to put the experience in perspective. The account is an unbelievable testimony of love and forgiveness by family (except Uncle Steve) and courts (Danny Scott serves two years for his wife's murder). Preston's grandparents readily forgive and accept their son-in-law; they "adopt" Preston and his younger brother, Tyler, and move to a new neighborhood to protect the boys from the publicity of the past. When his father is released from prison, Preston must confront his ambivalent feelings of loneliness, fear, relief, and insecurity and, ultimately, ask his father why. Shusterman attempts to characterize Danny as a troubled but loving father, haunted by his wife's rejection and his depression over a tragic childhood happening. In contrast, Preston's mother is less clear and less appealing. Shusterman glosses over the inevitable lifelong strain in family relationships after such a traumatic event; at story's end, Preston has come to terms with his emotions, forgiven his father, and achieved success in high school football and track. He goes on to be his father's best man in a new marriage. Too many issues are not sufficiently resolved here, and readers are not given enough information about these people to understand their motivations or to be convinced of their psychological healing.

Gerry Larson, Chewning Junior High School, Durham, NC
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.