It's been awhile...life has been crazy, and I haven't had much time to sit at the computer and type. I have a stack of books that need to be reviewed before school starts and life really gets out of control.
About a year ago I was at a writing competition with a student and the keynote speaker was an author named Jaime Adoff. He is from Yellow Springs, and is the son of author Virginia Hamilton and poet Arnold Adoff. He was a very engaging speaker, and immediately after his presentation I bought several of his books. Unfortunately, they sat on my shelf for the last year (I have a book buying problem). The good news is I finally remembered it, devoured it in a few hours, and LOVED it!
Adoff has chosen an interesting plot structure that hooks you from page one. The story begins as Jayson describes the experience of plummeting towards the ground after jumping off of a building in a suicide attempt:
I am a bullet screaming to the ground. The air rushing past me, so fast I can't breathe. I am gasping. The sound--like a 747 taking off in my eardrums. Getting louder and louder.
The ground getting closer and closer. This is supposed to get rid of my pain, get rid of it forever.This is my cure. It HURTS. It wasn't supposed to hurt. I was supposed to go unconscious. I haven't passed out yet, and it hurts. It hurts 'cause I can't breathe. My chest collapsing against itself, squeezing all my insides OUT. Squeezing everything. The building an upside-down blur, balconies racing past me (Adoff 5-6).
Adoff then goes back in time and takes us through some of the events that have led Jayson to the decision to end his life. We learn about his physically and mentally abusive, drug addicted mother with whom he lives, his deadbeat dad who flits in and out of his life, his struggles as a biracial student in a predominately white school on a scholarship. Jayson tries to keep his head up, but each time he seems to take a step forward life takes another drastic turn and throws him two steps back. After several particularly horrific events, he finally follows through on the suicide attempt he's seen playing in his head for months. He survives, but his problems are far from being solved. His parents are still the same people, his environment is still the same, and he must now deal with additional mental, emotional, and physical hardships.
This book is not necessarily uplifting, but I will say the author leaves the reader with a sense of hope in the final pages. Adoff's words are deliberately and beautifully written in a style that seems to be a reflection of both of his parents: part prose, part poetry. I highly recommend this book for males and females who like intense story lines and well-developed characters.
