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Monday, January 14, 2008

Head Case, by Sarah Aronson

Frank Marder is a head, paralyzed from the neck down, and it's his fault. He was drinking. He was driving. Now Frank can't walk he can't move, he can't feel his skin. He needs someone to feed him to wash him, to move his body.

When you're a head, do you ever feel like a whole person? Will Frank ever get to forgive himself?

Wow, what different take on this. Or, it feels original at least. Frank's just a kid, just a teenager, with all the teenage boy stuff going on--but it's all, very literally, in his head.

I really, really like that Aronson has worked with individuals with these sorts of problems. She’s seen those who “deal” and those who don’t. I can’t imagine being in a situation in which my body will no longer respond, but I’m still dealing with being a kid and growing up.

HOWEVER, I don’t like that the first chapter makes it appear as if that last drink was somehow the impetus for all of it. The things that happened are the consequences of drinking and driving, NOT just drinking one too many. And, yes, these consequences CAN and DO happen to the kid who has it all.

I realize the book wasn't meant to be preachy, and teenagers wouldn't be drawn to it if it was, but I think that's something to consider.

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This work is licensed by Jennifer Turney under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
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