Running Loose: A Review

Title: Running Loose
Authour: Chris Crutcher
Rating: 7.5 out of 10 Where I Found It: Library
Summary: Louie, a high school senior in a small Idaho town, learns about sportsmanship, love, and death as he matures into manhood.
General Impression: The book had the emotional moments, interesting characters, and deeper themes that I've come to expect from Chris Crutcher. So, of course it was good, just not anything suprising. So basically, if you want to know how I feel about this book, check out some of my other reviews for books by Chris Crutcher, it'll amount to about the same thing.
-Heather
P.S. Don't let that football player on the front confuse you. This isn't much of a sports book.

The Sledding Hill: A Review

Title: The Sledding Hill

Author: Chris Crutcher

Rating: 9 out of 10

Where I Found It: Library

Summary: Billy, recently deceased, keeps an eye on his best friend, fourteen-year-old Eddie, who has added to his home and school problems by becoming mute, and helps him stand up to a conservative minister and English teacher who is orchestrating a censorship challenge.

General Impression: I was so pleased to see Chris Crutcher take on a book that didn't have as heavy of a sports background, it was still there, just not as much. I have to say I loved this book, more than, maybe all but one of his other stories, which is Deadline for anyone who may want to check it out. I felt like I could relate to this book more than any of the others he's written. It was really clever, I think, to write a book about censorship by the way even if the tid bit of self-promotion ticked me off a little. I would suggest this for anyone you would like to get interested in Chris Crutcher who you don't feel is ready for his other work yet (in my example, probably my mom or something like that).

-Heather

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes: A Review

Title: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
Author: Chris Crutcher
Rating: 8.5 of 10
Where I Found It: Library
Summary: The daily class discussions about the nature of man, the existence of God, abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a backdrop for a high-school senior's attempt to answer a friend's dramatic cry for help.
General Impression: Well, all you have to do is read that summary to know that this book deals with some pretty intense themes. I did have some issues with how certain stereotypes were portrayed, but that was about as far as my issues with the book were. I don't really have much to say other than it's a great read if you want to think and don't mind getting down into the grit of reality. If you don't want to do that, then don't read this book.
The characters were fantastic, maybe not as diverse as the could have been, but excellently written nonetheless. They were all really interesting to get to know. Which is something the last few books I've read could have done better.
I think right now I might have read to many deep social issue books, my next read is more about World War Two from what I can tell, so that'll be a nice change of pace I think, after that is going to be a teen comedy, I think. So I think I'll be ready to review more deep books after that.
-Heather

My stare drifts to Jody. I'm guessing she believes Brittain was victimzed by a couple of insensitive pagan meremen.

Whale Talk: A Review

Title: Whale Talk
Author: Chris Crutcher
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Where I Found It: Schulers
Summary: There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway.
A group of misfits brought together by T.J. Jones (the J is redundant), the Cutter All Night Mermen struggle to find their places in a school that has no place for them. T.J. is convinced that a varsity letter jacket - unattainable for most, exclusive, revered, the symbol (as far as T.J. is concerned) of all that is screwed up at Cutter High - will be an effective tool. He's right. He's also wrong.
Still, it's always the quest that counts. And the bus on which the Mermen travel to swim meets soon becomes the space where they gradually allow themselves to talk, to fit, to grow.
Together they'll fight for dignity in a world where tragedy and comedy dance side by side, when a moment's inattention can bring lifelong heartache, and where true acceptance is the only prescription for what ails us.
General Impression: Phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal. Addresses intense themes, has an amazing cast, amazing plot, amazing ending, overall amazing.
Though, I had a little trouble keeping some of the cast straight name wise, their actions always let me know who was talking.
I think part of the reason I liked this book so much was the connections I made to it. My school, like Cutter High, is a bit overly concerned with athletics (if the basketball team goes to state, we won't have school on Friday!) and not only did I connect with T.J.'s feelings about it, but for the first time really got to somewhat understand the other side of the issue.
This book deals with some deep themes: racism, feeling alone, abusive relationships, mental and physical handicaps, revenge, and death. These themes show up in many different forms throughout the story and weave together beautifully. The biggest theme I suppose deals with acceptance, how really, it's what everyone longs for, and how different people will go around to get it.
Who do I suggest this book to? High school age and up, mainly because it deals with some deep stuff plus there's some language and I'm tired of hearing middle-schoolers swearing all the time because they think it's cool and don't have the maturity to know that just because you know something doesn't mean you talk about it all the time. Plus the one middle-schooler who talked to me about the book made me want to rip my ears off.
-Heather