Everything Matters!

Like the rest of my classmates have mentioned, I found this book to be a difficult read. After reading the blurb on the book jacket, my expectations were clarified.

I am not opposed to books that have a difficult ending and don't involve the words "and they lived happily ever after." But the twists and turns the book's plot takes essentially negate all chances for hope in the story. Junior finds the cure for his father's cancer but then he dies in a car crash. His brother overcomes his drug addiction but suffers serious brain damage as a result. His girlfriend agrees to join him on the ship leaving the planet, but is killed in the bombing of a building. Most of the action in the novel is really trying to hit home the point that just when life starts to look up, you get hit by a Mack truck. I can see the appeal this would have to teens, who feel as if everything is the end of the world, whether its a fight with a best friend over shoes or a zit before the prom.

Because this is an adult novel that young adults have found and enjoy, we learn a lot more about Junior's parents in this story. I think this is important for young adults to read and understand. Adults do bad things, just like children do. Adults are not perfect and make mistakes; they are fallible creatures who react in ways that we as children can't always understand. Through the mysterious voice, Junior learns more about the people around him then he might normally learn on his own. The second person narrative is also helpful for us as the reader to get more of an understanding of all the characters in the book, so we can better understand Junior's world and how he lives in it. Teens are self-absorbed people so this is a nice subtle nod for them to look outside their bubble and see the world around them.

In trying to save the world, Junior damaged the people around him in one way or another. In his second chance, he lived his life. In the end, he had a happier world because of it, even though the world ends. His actions in both chances remind of a cancer patient, or anyone with a serious illness. They begin by fighting, trying to overcome impossible odds and survive. Some do, some don't. Those who survive always remember and treasure their life more than they ever did before. Those who cannot beat it, are perhaps the most courageous of all, who keep a brave face and a positive outlook even though their own life has been stamped with an expiration date. Ultimately that is what I would like to take away from the book - Live each day to the fullest, because it might be your last.