Comment

Jun 08, 2019MeganDFarris rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
I wanted to like this book, but I didn't. The characters are complete stereotypes: the blind man has a seeing eye dog and talks about his other senses being heightened, the teenagers are too into the latest ipod/whatever, some guy in a cowboy hat is strumming a guitar (probably country music, considering the major stereotyping, but we're not told). The old lady is wearing curlers and carrying a jar of butterflies (I guess to signify she's senile like all old ladies should be (sarcasm here)). Second complaint is the dialogue. It's stilted and weird. The grandma and grandson both talk like "how come we don't gotta car?" and she calls her grandson "boy." While I've known real people who talk this way, in this case it seemed like a lazy stereotype to depict race/poverty/living in the City in the most uncomfortable way possible. Thirdly, The boy's "character arc" begins as he complains about having to go to the place (we find out at the end of the story it's a soup kitchen where they volunteer) and complain about having to ride the bus there, but then at the end he realizes he's glad he came. But...he says earlier, "How come we always gotta go here" which makes it sound like it's a recurring event every Sunday after church. Why did he suddenly realize on this day that it was fun to come when he's gone to the soup kitchen several times before? Because the story demanded it? There's no logical reason why he'd suddenly change his mind. There are much better books out there if you want realistic diversity. This one is a definite skip.