A Look at Broken People

Cracked by K.M. Walton

Truth in advertising: I read this because it is one of the grant books I chose for my on level classes to have for lit circles. Little did I know I would enjoy it so much. Then again, it's about broken people, and we know how I am drawn to books like this.

This is about two sixteen year old boys, Victor and Bull.

Victor is fairly wealthy, but his parents make it known all the time that they wish he'd never been born. There are a lot of things he can't do or say because it might offend his mother. His parents cancel his trip to Europe with them because he did not ace, as in score 100%, on his SAT. He's bullied at school by Bull, and he thinks that the only being who gives a damn about him is his dog, Jazzer. On the morning that his parents leave to go to Europe, without telling him good-bye, he finds Jazzer dead, and decides to end it all. He takes a bottle of his mother's sleeping pills, and wakes up to find himself in a psychiatric ward.

Bull is not in any way wealthy. In fact, at one point, he is eating a heel piece of bread because that is the only food in the house. Bull's grandfather, who he refers to as Pop, beats him fairly regularly. His mother is a drunk who does nothing to stand up for him, and he doesn't know who his father is because he never wanted Bull to be born. Bull is blamed for the family's circumstances, but it is obviously not his fault. To escape, he takes books to a cemetery to get away from it all. Yes, he is a bully, but it is likely a result of his upbringing. One day, he's had enough, and tries to shoot his Pop, He misses and shoots himself. Pop tells the authorities that Bull was trying to kill himself, and he ends up in a psychiatric ward.

The bullied and the bully are sharing a room in a psychiatric ward. Things will definitely get worse before they get better.

I enjoyed this book. I liked that we got Victor's point of view and Bull's point of view. It didn't end the way I expected, but I wasn't disappointed with the ending. I can't wait to discuss this with my students. Every one of them who is reading this is really enjoying it.