Parenthetical

This is the next book by the author of Marcelo in the Real World. I wanted to adore this as much as I adored Marcelo, but it didn’t quite come together for me.

Pancho is a troubled young man with one goal: to avenge the mysterious death of his sister. She was his legal guardian, so after her death, he’s taken to St. Anthony’s, a home for boys. His summer job at St. Tony’s? Taking care of D.J., another boy his age who’s dying of cancer. Before D.J. dies, he’s working to complete his masterpiece, the Death Warrior Manifesto — and Pancho is suddenly key to his plan.

A lot of this is pretty standard Dying Kid Yoda stuff. D.J. spends a lot of time, especially in the first half of the book, sounding holy; I wanted him to sound more like a kid. Assuming you’ve read a book before, you know from the beginning that hanging out with D.J. will “save” Pancho from his anger — though I did believe Pancho’s journey, and it was nice that the emotional saving went both ways by the end.

I found the dialogue forced at times, and the first half of the book dragged. When they get to Albuquerque things picked up, but if I hadn’t had the “Marcelo was so awesome” motivation, it would have already lost me by then.

It’s entirely possible that this is just me, though. My guess is that this will appeal to the kids who love Chris Crutcher (though maybe slightly older versions of those kids, since this is a slower book).

Coming to a bookstore near you in March 2010. I picked up my copy at ALA.

Also reviewed by: Menasha Public Library and MissAttitude of Reading in Color

Comment here