![]() The best part of this book was the writing. ![]() The book covers several story arcs: his fascination and growing friendship/romance with fellow inmate Andrea the changes within him, pulling him out of criminal territory and dangerously close to someone who cares and the lurking presence of David, another inmate whose complete awfulness threatens to destroy everything. optimistic, I guess, about what he'll get from the world. His experiences in life have taught him not to get too emotional or. He's not interested in anything much, in fact he prides himself on not caring about anything. Jacob Higgins is in a juvie detention center, after a convenience store robbery went awry. Loved it.Īccording to the blurb from Publisher's Weekly on the cover, this is " One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest meets Napoleon Dynamite." Well, dang. This reminded me a little bit of Recovery Road with a mix of Dirt Road Home and a bit of about ten thousand other juvie-set YA books I've read. When he's given an opportunity to change the course of action of another individual in the facility, he steps up, and that makes all of the difference in the world.even though he never feels that it does. And yet, that's also the big thing of it: he wants the same thing, but he isn't convinced it'll ever happen. The voice in this novel is outstanding, and Jacob's story, despite how monotonous it is - that's purposeful and well done in that regard - it is hard not to love him and want him to figure himself out. ![]() This is a funny (!!) story about Jacob, a boy in a juvenile detention center in Northern Virginia, following a failed robbery attempt he made out of what was essentially boredom. I think this being published as adult, rather than YA, is maybe why it hasn't been as widely read and discussed as it should be. In her pitch-perfect debut, Emma Rathbone adroitly captures the drama, both comic and deadly serious, of growing up. In a voice filled with confusion, yearning, and sardonic humor, Jacob narrates his improbably sweet romance with Andrea, an inmate with whom he shares rare glances, melodramatic conversation, and waxy cookies at rigidly chaperoned "socials." But when David, a mysterious, conniving adolescent, handpicks him to assist in a plot to bring about the center's demise, Jacob has to weigh the frail new optimism of his relationship with Andrea against the allure of destruction, rebellion, and escape. His antics have landed him in a North Virginia detention center, where nihilism, freedom, and redemption all take on unexpected guises. He despises his negligent mother and her alcoholic boyfriend, Refrigerator Man, and he's indifferent to school and his friends - though a little less casual about girls and marijuana. Jacob Higgins's teenage rage rarely simmers below the surface for long.
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