Jonathon Scott Fuqua

Reviewed by Katie Hayes for TeensReadToo.com

Eleven-year-old Caley has every reason to keep to himself. After his parents' divorce, he and his two siblings keep moving every couple of months. His father is an unpredictable, emotionally abusive alcoholic. His mother is paralyzed by depression to the point of negligence. He doesn't get along with either of his stepparents. And when he finally makes a friend, it's one whose problems are even worse than his own.

But things are even worse inside show more his own head, where severe depression has taken hold. Every time his family moves, Caley's mental state deteriorates.

While this book is intense and so heavy in some places that it's hard to read, that only goes to show how effective Jonathon Scott Fuqua is at capturing Caley's depression. He also works a bit of black humor in to keep the story from getting too melodramatic, and he never overstates things.

Also, the language is at times beautiful. Lines such as, "The gray clouds appeared stuck like gray cement on a board," provide some lovely description devoid of cliché, as do observations such as Caley's about his mother: "She'd changed after the divorce. It was like her goodness and affectionateness seemed to be hibernating or were gone."

I would recommend GONE AND BACK AGAIN to mature teenagers who don't mind a book with heavy subject matter. show less

PLUS -
* This is such a lovely book, sadly now out of print in the UK, but is a favourite of mine. It's like a junior version of To Kill A Mockingbird (also a favourite).
* In some ways it's a really gentle story of family life in 1920s deep south America, with 9-year-old Darby as our narrator.
* In other ways it's really quite hard hitting. Darby's best friend is a black child, Evette, and when Darby questions how unfair life is for her friend she finds that she and her family are up against show more the local members of the Ku Klux Klan.
* This really is writing for kids at it's absolute best.

MINUS -
* Nothing at all....I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could!

OVERALL -
* One of those books that I really would recommend for almost everyone. If you can get hold of a copy, read it. show less

Despite the rose-colored ending that relies on unrealistic optimism about people reacting rationally to arguments against racism (and one glaring editing fail towards the end), I really enjoyed this book. Fuqua provides a poignant portrayal of childhood and of connection to a place despite its flaws (something as a frequent mover I have trouble grasping), and the story offers a lot of jumping-off points for deep discussions with my son.

In the wake of the boatman. The boatman being a father, husband, role model. Or is he? His son isn’t so sure.

Neither is the father:

"Over and over, his mind fastened on the fact that he had no idea how to give his son a hug. It seemed a completely different act from hugging his wife or daughter…Suddenly, he felt old, warn, and permanently immovable."

There is a lot of angst in this book. Much of it related to relationships both personal and familial as well as toward gender and show more identity.

Pretty powerful stuff. Let me tell you, this is not a light read.

But I enjoyed it. Even though I struggled a bit to understand the depth of the father-son relationship, which is what this story is primarily about.

Not to get too personal, but it’s a dynamic I am just now discovering through my marriage. I had never seen one in action, and it still remains somewhat of a mystery.

Carl and his son Puttnam (the protagonist) are not characters that endeared themselves to me. There were a few times that I really disliked both, intensely.

I believe this is because the characters dislike themselves a great deal, and this shines through and glares upon their fatal flaws. Imperfection is put on display in a harshness that is only tempered by the relationships each man has with the women in the family.

The roles of women in this book are subtle, but important. Like the men, they are flawed. However they are the strength and the glue that keeps the family together and moving forward toward a resolution.

The author doesn’t end the novel in a way that redeems Putt or his father. Not completely. This is not a bad thing. He does leave the reader with hope that Putt will become a likeable person, not only to us, but more importantly, to himself.

As I said, this isn’t a light read, but by no means is it a challenging one. Just like Goldilocks, I’m gonna say it’s juuust right. show less