Permanent connections - Hardcover

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Grade 10-12 Rob Dickson moves through his high-school years in a haze of drugs, alcohol, and unhappiness until his life is subtly changed by his encounters with his family's past. When Rob is forced to spend time with his injured uncle, his agoraphobic aunt, and a senile grandfather on their small holding outside of a tiny town in the Appalachian mountains, he responds with surly rudeness. He breaks rules and is eventually arrested for smoking marijuana while driving on a mountain road. While this plot summary may seem to reflect the trite problem-novel scenario, Bridgers has once again infused a topical subject with rich use of language and tone. The characterizations of the unhappy Rob, his equally unhappy girlfriend, Ellery, and the various minor characters in the book are excellent, providing vivid insights into their lives and troubles. Bridgers does not settle for a simple point of view, but instead allows readers to walk in Rob's shoes while gradually introducing Ellery's point of view and occasionally even that of her mother, a woman who is trying to make sense of her own life. Descriptions are masterful. One chapter which decribes Ellery's mother's meditations as she weaves is a heartbreakingly lovely use of metaphor. Some readers might be put off by harsh language and the issue of drugs, but these are carefully integrated into the story of Rob's slow acceptance of himself and the people around him. There is no miraculous happy ending here, but instead a clear and healthy beginning of understanding. Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
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