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Kwoomac

Kwoomac

Currently reading

Slam
Nick Hornby
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Erik Larson
Heavenly Hydrangeas: A Practical Guide for the Home Gardener
Joan Harrison
The Uninvited Guests
Sadie Jones
Dead End in Norvelt - Jack Gantos Jack Gantos (main character, maybe the author) is living in a small town in PA the summer he turns 12. The year is 1962. The country is still recovering from WWII and dealing with the Cold War. He's excited for a summer of baseball and running free with his best friend Bunny. We learn pretty soon that Jack's summer is not going to play out as he planned. After getting caught playing with his father's souvenir japanese rifle, he gets grounded. The grounding gets extended when he plows under his mother's corn field, after his father told him to ! Geez, talk about unfair. Ah, but that's an underlying theme throughout the book. If life were fair, they wouldn't be living in a dying town, unable to afford a doctor's visit,among other things. Someone may be killing off all the oldtimers. The Hells Angels have decided to target their town with random acts of arson. The owner of most of the town (and also it's funeral director) has been selling off all the houses and shipping them to West Virginia. The book is quite dark.

In spite of the dark theme, Jack Gantos (the author) manages to make this dark tale one of finding joy in small things. Even though Jack is only twelve, he is allowed to drive his neighbor around town in her car. How great is that. What kid doesn't think he's ready to drive at that age! He also can watch movies at the Drive-In by using his father's binoculars (also Japanese). Jack (the kid) gets to learn lots of interesting details about the lives of the elderly residents as he helps his neighbor write obituaries for them as they die off. Death is not just a sad ending, but an opportunity to review the beauty of life. This book is a celebration of the details. I don't even want to talk about Jack's birthday and how happy he was with the gifts he received. One of many poignant moments in a book chock full of them.



challenge-funny (although it really is more quirky than funny, but I'm counting it)