One of the most dramatic events of the story is the
middle-of-the-night phone call from Gus at the gas station. We relate to Gus’s feelings of inadequacy,
and how he could make the mistake of sneaking out of the house at night to feel
more self-sufficient. But his quest for
self-sufficiency in a fresh pack of never-to-be-lit cigarettes turns into a
nightmare for him and the only person he trusts not to humiliate him even more;
Hazel. She immediately sees that the
only real solution to the crisis is to call an ambulance, however, so his hopes
of a hasty cover-up are dashed. (“He
came home from the hospital a few days later, finally and irrevocably robbed of
his ambitions.”)
The parents, both Hazel’s and Gus’s, are major satellites in
this drama, brought into orbit just close enough for realism, just distant
enough to keep the focus tightly trained on the teenagers. The dialog that does come from the adults is
convincing and often resonates acutely (“ ‘Okay, enough,’ Gus’s dad said, and
then out of nowhere, his dad put an arm around me and kissed the side of my
head and whispered, ‘I thank God for you every day, kid.’ ”) Both sets of
parents show a lot more leniency toward this teenage romance than they normally
might, understanding that not only is it
genuine, it is likely the only romantic love that either teenager will
experience in their short lives.
Yes, on one level this book is a classic Teenage Girl’s
Tear-jerker. But the tears are
undeniably justified, the anguish directed at a very real monster in many
people’s lives. Sure, these characters
are larger than life, so much more likeable and admirable than real people,
real cancer victims with all their imperfections, so it’s a lot easier to “feel
their pain.” But that is what fiction
does, or what it should do; it shows people and shows our world as they ought
to be seen, stripped of all the irrelevant details and side issues about which
we tend to be so judgmental. With that
in mind, this book becomes so much more than a tear-jerker. It brings the reader closer to reality in
much the same way that a cancer victim is brought closer to the reality of
death and therefore, life. The reader
leaves this book after the last page feeling as if he or she has gained
something, and I believe that closer-to-reality awareness is it.
Peter Van Houton’s role in all this has been
like a little mini-mystery in this book until Hazel finally has a flash of
insight into the nature of his demons, including his alcoholism. It almost seems that he wants her to figure
it out for herself without his help.
When she does, she hates him less, but pities him more, which is
probably worse. She drops him off
curbside at the end of their last meeting (“He sat down on the curb behind the
car. As I watched him shrink in the
rearview mirror, he pulled out the bottle and for a second it looked like he
would leave it on the curb. And then he
took a swig.”)February’s book of the month; “Hide and Seek,” by Ian Rankin
At night
the summer sky stays light over Edinburgh, Scotland. But in a shadowy,
crumbling housing development, a junkie lies dead of an overdose, his bruised
body surrounded by signs of Satanic worship. John Rebus could call the death
an accident - but won't. Instead, he tracks down a violent-tempered young woman
who knew the dead boy and heard him cry out his terrifying last words:
"Hide! Hide!" Now, with the help of a bright, conflicted young
detective, Rebus is following the girl through a brutal world of bad deals, bad
dope and bad company. From a beautiful city's darkest side to the private
sanctums of the upper crust, Rebus is seeking the perfect hiding place for a
killer…
The first segment will be: "Intro,"
"Monday" and "Tuesday," aiming at February 7th!
No comments:
Post a Comment