Peter Deadman

When we meet 16-year-old Will of Peter Deadman’s young adult novel Juice, he is living with his depressed mother Olivia and older cousin Jerome. It is after the Devastation and life is austere and grim; food is limited and survival is achieved by foraging abandoned homes for wood to burn and clothes to wear. They live in darkness, both literally and figuratively. Juice, the term for electricity, is forbidden in this strict community governed by fundamentalist values. Deemed the culprit for show more civilization’s downfall – the epidemics and famine, to name a few – juice is not allowed in any fashion, even if solar-powered. The ice cold baths and showers in the dead of winter are constant reminders of their predecessors' mistakes, and the purpose of school – which students attend occasionally when they have a break from endless chores – is to teach young people about the wasteful habits and subsequent consequences of previous generations, so they aren’t repeated.

While Will knows nothing but life after the Devastation, the shift is recent enough that people like Olivia, his mother, lived through the chaos and violence of the shift. Though she describes it as cataclysmic, we also understand it was years in the making. But Will is questioning and restless, frustrated by the community’s choice to make life so hard when embracing solutions like solar energy could alleviate the constant hardship. Curious about what exists beyond his small world and propelled by a desire to connect with the father who left the family ten years earlier, Will defies all societal convention and warnings, and strikes out on his own, aiming to make it to far away Coal City, the last known location of his father.

Thus begins Will’s remarkable and harrowing journey. Author Peter Deadman infuses peril and obstacle at every turn, pushing Will to endure isolation and pain – both physical and emotional. Deadman has created a hero that is brave and clever, and endearingly imperfect. Will meets countless people along the way who push him to grow, namely Leonie, the illiterate carnival acrobat and healer-in-training, who is perhaps even more courageous than he is. Deadman also crafts some despicable villains who feel very Dickensian, and the reader’s guard is constantly up, uncertain as to who Will and Leonie should trust. The action scenes are gripping, and one could easily see how well they’d translate to the screen.

While this adult reader thoroughly enjoyed the dystopic quest of Juice, the teenage reader is the target, and not only because they will certainly find characters they identify with. Deadman connects the dots for readers of all ages to understand the endless ramifications of our thoughtless consumption of limited resources (floods, fires, unfarmable land, overfished waters), but he also shows the impotence of the adults to fix the problem, calling on the young people to lead the charge, as Leonie aptly describes, “I don’t think they’ve got a clue. Adults that is. Devastation is such a long time ago to us but they lived through it. They’re still in shock. Anyway, they landed us in this mess and it’s our job now, not theirs, to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong.”

This clarion call to our younger generations to take action might be considered too great a burden and an abdication of our collective responsibility to do something. But the need for new, fresh-eyed leadership is undeniable, and Juice provides characters who might very well inspire the courage needed for change. show less

This book was fine. It mostly held my attention while I was reading it but it wasn't something I was very invested in. It was very slow and often random. I felt like parts were hard to believe, like needing money in a post electricity society. Overall didn't hate it, definitely wouldn't read it again.

I can't imagine practicing without my Deadman.

Established as the most complete work on the channels, collaterals and points in English, A Manual of Acupuncture has become the gold standard text for students and practitioners of acupuncture.