"Deadline" by Chris Crutcher
1.
Crutcher, Chris. (2007) Deadline. New York, NY:
HarperCollins Children’s Books. ISBN: 978-06-085089-0
Mortality is something that we all
have to deal with at some point in our lives, but for most of us, that time
comes a little later than the beginning of our senior year of high school. Ben Wolf
was not so lucky. He found out he had a terminal blood disease at the ripe age
of 18 and chose, against recommendations, to keep it a secret and not get any treatment.
Instead, he goes on making the absolute most out of the year or so he has left.
He becomes a football hero, gets the girl, makes new friends and is generally
loving the remainder of his curtailed life when his illness finally catches up
with him and he has to start telling people.
Spoiler alert: He dies in the end and you will cry when his brother
reads his speech.
I’ve never read about a person
approaching mortality this way. Usually they make a show of going through the
stages of grief to show readers that it is normal, but Ben skips that part and
is incredibly pragmatic! I found it really refreshing! Sad, but still
refreshing. This could be a great read for someone coping with terminal illness,
or who has a loved one who is fighting for their life. There is a lesson to be
learned from this book and it teaches the reader gently. There is no push for
grief or a sudden turn to religion. Instead there is therapy, self-doubt,
bravado and a very interesting inner dialogue with an aptly named “Hey-soos”
who is meant to be a combination of Jesus and Ben Wolf. This is the book's only subtle hint at turning to religion in times of crisis.
This book deals with recovering from molestation
and a girl, Dallas, even raises the child-result of this act. She overcomes it. Ben dies
but overcomes his fear of life and failure. Cody loses his brother and best
friend but he overcomes it thanks to Ben. Rudy fights alcoholism and failure and overcomes it the only way he can. This is a story of victory and
inspiration instead of sadness and frustration. It was a really wonderful page
turner and I would recommend it to anybody who has ever had to deal with death closely.
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