Friday, May 13, 2011

STICK by Andrew Smith

Synopsis, from the jacket copy:

Stark McClellan (“Stick”) hears the world in a different way. He is surrounded by cruelty and ugliness, but holds on to a powerful sense of wonder, faith, and love for his best friend, Emily, and the most important person in Stick’s world -- his older brother, Bosten, who happens to be gay.

When the boys’ father throws Bosten out of their home, Stick steals a car and takes off on a three-state odyssey to find and rescue him.

My take:

This book rocked my world, and my perceptions of YA genre conventions.

It's a very sad, disturbing story about abuse and cruelty, and the things that people do to each other when they don't understand or can't handle someone or something. Yet, there are kindnesses and characters so full of love and compassion that they make up for all the evil.

The heart of this story is the love and acceptance that occurs between brothers when they must survive truly adverse conditions, and how Stick has to grow up and learn to achieve knowledge of self, in spite of all the things that make him so-called different.

Andrew is an incredible writer, and the prose and formatting in this novel are powerful and unique, but for me, it's the strength and believability of the characters that really set this book apart. The main characters are just as real and flawed as anyone, and even the despicable villains are given enough depth that they come across as less shallow than some main characters in other books.

I actually finished it over a week ago, but I'm still basking in the afterglow.

This book is not for very young readers, or for the faint of heart, but I can highly recommend it to anyone who likes truth in fiction.

It does not come out for five months, but you can pre-order it from Amazon, here.

24 comments:

  1. Great review Matthew. This sounds like a truly wonderful book--I'm definitely adding it to my TBR pile.

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  2. It's heart-rending, but an incredible read.

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  3. Looking forward to it - Smith is a class act.

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  4. Like I said, If Andrew Smith wrote it - I'l buy it! :)

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  5. Great review. It sounds lie a great book. And your review hits all the reasons I think I'd like it. Thanks.

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  6. I'm not young and feeble of heart but this is going on my YA TBR list!! Thank you Mr Matthew for a fab review and intro to this book! Take care
    x

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  7. I'm trying to decide if I like truth in fiction. Does that make me a wimp, that I have to think about it? In any case, great review!

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  8. Well, you make me want to read the book so good job, Matthew!

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  9. Great review. Your love for this book shines through and creates a definite afterglow. Even though I'm a middle grade mafioso, I'll be looking out for Stick.

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  10. What a great review - and man, this sounds so so so good!

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  11. Truth in fiction? Now I've seen everything! I'm going to need a crane to add more books to the tbr pile.

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  12. Matt, if the premise hadn't won me over (which it did), your review would have. So well said--you captured the poignancy of the work. Looking forward to reading this one. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on an ARC.

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  13. Wow. Sounds like a powerful book. I'm glad to hear about some realistic fiction for boys that deals with these kind of subjects. Kudos to the author for doing such a great job.

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  14. This definitely sounds like one to be read by me, too. Hopefully I remember.

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  15. Thank you, Matthew. To be honest, one could almost make the case this book is MG. The main character is in Jr. High. *shrugs* never been good at finding my fit, I guess. Anyway, I appreciate the nice words.

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  16. Wow, what a great review! It amazes me how many difficult and trying topics can appear in YA books.

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  17. This sounds like a tough but valuable read. I'm looking forward to picking it up! Thanks for the thoughtful review.

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  18. Awesome review, Matt! This one goes on my to-read list, for sure.

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  19. Thanks for this review, Matt. I bought The Marbury lens on your recommendation and I don't regret it one bit.

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  20. awesome review. Thanks, Matt! I've read about this story from you more than once, and I'm very intrigued... :D <3

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  21. This is weird. I guess we got the post back, but not the comments. Oh well.

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  22. I can't wait to read this. Big fan of Andrew Smith's. Thanks for a great review.

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  23. Another one to add to my list. Oh I can't wait for my kindle to come home!

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