Well let me just say, this book was AMAZING. It wasn't something I would read on my own, but I'm glad I read it. The ability to take away not only physical, but emotional pain was just a really cool idea! And this book was really well executed; The divorce and family troubles in both houses, the poetic style of Brewster's chapters, the chapters that were seemingly put there only to build suspense, and the humor was on point. I loved the characters too, and how every scene had it's purpose. Like, the scene when Cody was flying his kite, a seemingly mundane task, eventually brought up the fact that the pain Brew stole could be taken back. There are a lot more instances like this, but I'm starting to ramble.
Literary signposts! I could have probably found more, but in this section I only got 3. Oddly, I didn't get a single Words of the Wiser signpost in the whole book! #1- The first literacy signpost I noticed was a Tough Questions signpost on page 247. I knew this signpost was somewhere, but it took a while to find. I'd say it would start here though: Then he thinks about it some more. "Are you gonna get like Uncle Hoyt?" When Cody is talking to Tennyson. And this really shocked me. i thought, 'Why would Cody say that? Tennyson helped save Cody and Brew, and he certainly cares about them. He would never hit them! And Tennyson thinks so too. "I'll never hit you or your brother, Cody." "That's not what I mean..." And this is important too, because Hoyt wasn't just bad for hitting the two, he was abusive in other ways. Keeping the healing power to himself, and not letting Brew leave. Keeping him from making friends, and not caring about Brewster, only caring about his healing ability. So I think this is foreshadowing, because in a few pages, Tennyson starts to do these things! Tennyson makes Brewster go to his game so he would win it, but he never asks for Brew's opinion. Tennyson becomes indifferent to almost everything, just like Uncle Hoyt did. #2- I also noticed an Aha Moment on page 300, in Brontë's pov. This is when Brewster takes his shirt off, showing all of the injuries he had taken from all his new friends. When Brontë felt like she was crying, she wasn't, but Brewster was. ...and that's when I knew how much further this went than flesh and bone. Brontë discovered that Brew could take away more than just physical injuries, but also emotional. This was another selling point for me. I mean, knowing you should feel some way but not being able to feel any emotion must be really hard! And, Brontë reacts seemingly normally. She runs away. This also has another realization tucked in- that this is why Hoyt told Brew to hate everyone; keeping everyone shut out was the only way to keep Brew from being hurt so much, all the time! Of course this realization is important, it causes Brontë to run away, moving the plot along. It significantly changes Brontë's view on both Brew's power and Uncle Hoyt's actions. This signpost shows internal conflict, as Brontë is trying to understand all the information Brewster is telling her, and having to cope with not being able to feel sad, and knowing that the only reason her parents' haven't divorced is Brew's ability taking away their anger. #3- And lastly, an Again and Again signpost on page 118/305/probably more but I don't want to go check. This wasn't an exact repeat, but several times Brew mentions that he didn't choose this gift he has, he didn't choose to steal others' pain, etc. I think the author mentioned this multiple times to show that Brewster really didn't want his ability (wow, really), but he has to deal with it. This could also have been included to show that Brew outright hates his ability, as he also states that he wishes he could be normal for once, wishing he could be rid of his power so he could actually make friends without fearing for his life. This foreshadows, at least in this part, that bad things are going to happen to Brew because of his power, as they have before as well. In this case, drowning in place of Brontë. If I had to choose one, I'd say this was internal conflict, as Brew doesn't want to get hurt, but he also doesn't want to let others be hurt. After thinking about it for a while, and while typing the above paragraph, I realized Brew has another power that is completely forgotten after the first half or so. His memory! After Brontë being shocked about Brew memorizing The Odessey (I think that was it), Brew's amazing memory is almost never brought up again. The author could have at least alluded to it in the second half of the book! And if it wasn't important enough to include there (which it certainly isn't), why give Brew that power anyway? Just leave it out! I honestly can't even remember a time when he used it, aside from maybe remembering all the injuries he got and who they came from, mentioned in signpost #2. Also I had to try pretty hard to find a dotted e to go in Brontë's name. But aside from that, this was a really great book! 7/10, might read again.
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AuthorLaura Friesad Archives
May 2017
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