Am I only on book
number 14? I need to stop picking up titles that are not in my ALAN box.
Anyway, here’s a book by yet another adult author who has decided to write for
young adults, but that’s a topic for another post as some of those books are
rather good.
SUTHY is the story
of almost 17-year-old Richie. Richie has cancer and is in hospice. In 30 days
he will be either dead or released from the unit, and he is brutally honest
with himself about his diagnosis. But his birthday is just days away and he’s
consumed with typical teenage thoughts including losing his virginity. He
engages in hilarious and touching escapades with Sylvie, another teenager in a
room down the hall, who is also interested in losing her virginity, with his
uncle who takes him on adventures, and with his grandmother who is his accomplice
in several escapades. Riche’s final days are filled with extraordinary, and yet
somewhat ordinary, experiences.
Okay, I confess I
haven’t read The Fault in Our Stars. Yeah, I know it’s awesome, is a best seller,
and is written by a really good author who is a really good guy. But, I heard
it was about cancer and I became too afraid to read it. Well, I started SUTHY
without reading the back. And, I was crying by page 41 and refused to put it
down until I finished it. But I laughed almost as many times as I cried, and I
love books like that (The Absolutely True
Diary of a Part Time Indian is another book I laughed and cried through and
read in just one sitting).
I find a couple of
things interesting about this book. First, the title. I kept wanting its title
to be Somebody Up There Hates Me. But, it’s not because when people ask Richie
what he has (or why he’s in hospice) he responds with SUTHY Syndrome. It’s an interesting
detail to think about—and I think I like it. But, when I first read the title,
I really had no idea what the book was going to be about.
Second, there’s a
high stakes poker game near the end of the book. The only other card game that
I can recall affecting me as much as this game is a scene from Jeannette
Winterson book The Passion where two
men play three games, the last one being poker, and I’m not going to reveal too
many details, but the stakes are just as high as are the emotions.
Seamon manages to
create rather round characters (if I can be a little analytical at this point)
in a rather sparse book. We, along with Richie, learn a lot about them in just
a few scenes and their lives are just as complex as his.
I’m not sure how many teenagers would pick up this book and read it—but I could see my college
students loving it.
Do I need to read Fault in our Stars?
Do I need to read Fault in our Stars?
I'm going to say yes, you should. The novel has a book-within-a-book thing that didn't work at all for me, but the rest of it is pretty darn good. I still think Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns are better Green books, but TFIOS is very good and it'll make you both laugh and cry. I have SUTHY in the pile on my nightstand - I'll have to move it up now.
ReplyDelete