This story is definitely a tear-jerker! The ending, which I will not mention in case some of you are finishing it up) was so not expected! There were different parts of the story I could relate to. In Chapter 5, as I was reading the description of the horrible things Janice Avery would do to the kids on the playground, I just shuddered. I remember seeing kids when I was in elementary school getting picked on by girls just like Janice. I would want to take up for them so much. Then, on the other hand, I didn't want to get caught in the path of the "teaser."I also felt bad for Jess. Living with so many sisters had to have been a nightmare. I have a younger sister and we're still learning to get along and we're both adults. :-) It seems like Jess was kind of ignored by his parents and maybe even a little jealous of the attention his sisters received. I thought it was such an honorable and mature thing to do when he bought his sister a Barbie doll for Christmas even though she probably didn't deserve it. (I've had this thought a few times about my own sister.)
In Chapter 12 when Jess went to the "old Perkins place" because of what had happened (I'm still trying not to give too much information away and it's getting harder to do), all the feelings of my grandfather's death washed over me. He just passed away two years ago and it was a very sudden death. He was as healthy as a horse. Unbeknownst to the family, he developed a staph infection on his brain. He awoke me one morning yelling that he couldn't get up from the floor to which he had just fallen. We called 911 and after two brain surgeries and six weeks in ICU, he died the night after my family had gathered around his hospital bed singing (and crying) "Happy Birthday" to him. The first two days in the hospital were the only two he could mouth out the words "I love you" to me through the ventilator tube going down his throat. I lived with him and that day, I went home to an empty house for the first time in four years.
I felt like Jess felt in Chapter 12. When news so extraordinary hits you, you don't know what to say, to do, to think. I ate breakfast just like Jess ate his pancakes. Why was I doing something so normal when something so abnormal was happening in my life-my first major loss in my life. I didn't want to talk people and I didn't want any people hugging me who were crying themselves.
At the beginning of reading this book, I didn't think I would finish the story being so touched by the friendship between Jess and Leslie. I also didn't think I would end up having something in common with Jess-the feelings of loss.
(Before I wrote this post, I had some thoughts and notes I wanted to make sure I covered. Telling you about the death of my beloved grandfather who I loved more than life itself was not, in any way, planned. Thanks for reading.)
1 comment:
Sharing such a personal story takes courage. I'm so glad you did. While I did not live with my grandmother when she died, she was the most important person in my world, second only to my husband. She died seven years ago, but she lives on in my daughter, born six months later, who shares her name, and, for better or worse, her spirit. Thanks for sharing such a personal story.
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