Period 8

This was a fast read, and I had it knocked out in about three hours. Chris Crutcher does a great job keeping you at the edge of your seat, guessing as to what is about to happen next. And it's no use, because you won't figure out what in the hell is going on until the end.

Period 8 is an hour long hang out/lunch time/open discussion that students at Heller High can participate in. The only only rules are that you have to keep it real (no lying and be honest) and what gets discussed in Period 8, STAYS in Period 8.

The truth isn't always simple though, when Paulie tells his girlfriend Hannah that he cheated on her, shit hits the fan and it seems to start a chain of events that no one could have foreseen. Mr. Logs, their trusty teacher, show more tries to hold the glue together, but easier said than done. When Mary goes missing, everyone in Period 8 realize that someone is lying. Can Paulie and Hannah pull through and settle their differences and work together to help find Mary? Why did Mary run away? All these questions and more build up until the fiery conclusion. show less

Start the New Year right…with a Chris Crutcher book-Period 8. (Actually, the book’s not due out until April.)

I’m a big fan of Chris Crutcher, having read all his books and heard him speak. But, truth be told, his last two, Sledding Hill and Deadline, were not amongst my favorites. Well, Period 8, although abandoning his anger management themes, has brought him back to the forefront. It is a chilling book in many ways, while dealing with a vareity of issues, including honesty in relationships, overly protective parents, religion to name a few.

There’s too much going on in the book to really give you a synopsis, so I’ll give you snippets.

Paulie is a swimmer and thus built like one. He’s a catch. He cheated on his girlfriend, show more Hannah, who adores him and who he adores. In the interest of truth in a relationship, he tells Hannah about his infidelity (his father is a philanderer) and she immediately dumps his sorry ass, without even hearing his explanation.

Meanwhile, Mary Wells, called virgin Mary because of her shy, withdrawn demeanor has gone missing, an unusal thing for this straight A student, who has not missed a session of Period 8 since she was a high school freshman.

There’s Arney, junior class president, who has a hand in everything. What’s up with him?

And finally there’s Period 8, a period which we probably all wish we had. It’s lunch period and a group of kids gets together in Mr. Langdon’s classroom to discuss anything and everything. The one condition…what’s said in the room, stays in the room.

Period 8 is their story. There are some authors who write poetically. There are some who insert hidden meanings in their words. And then there’s Chris Crutcher, the consummate story teller, who unfolds a gripping tale with wonderful characters, an engrossing plot and a satisfying ending. You will love Paulie and Hannah, separately and together. Mr. Langdon is a character in all of Crutcher’s books…the teacher who guides students, doesn’t give them the answer, let’s them think it out themselves. What these kids are into, both good and bad, will make you smile and frown, respectively.

Period 8 is gripping and thought provoking. Do yourself a favor and read it. I couldn’t put it down. show less

This saddens me because I liked Chris Crutcher when I was a teen. I made it a total of 24 pages. In that brief span (though it's almost 10%), I already hate everyone in this book. I hated the MC on page two. I'm pretty sure they're going to be in danger later, and I would be rooting for the psycho killer or whatever.

Why do I hate the MC?

Paulie's on a date with his girlfriend. He tells her he wants to talk, but they make out for a bit first. She's said she's a great listener. Then he tells her he cheated on her. She insists that he take her home "in fucking silence, or I'm walking." He has the audacity to think this: "So much for the world's best listener" (2). To be fair, she didn't listen, but FUCK YOU for being an asshole. There's show more nothing you can say to make cheating on your girlfriend acceptable and she shouldn't have to listen to that shit. Being honest is a point in his favor, but his snarky comeback in the face of that just pissed me off.

The he goes to meet up with his philandering father at some diner, and his dad talks about why relationships suck.

Then he goes and talks to Logs, the teacher who runs Period 8, where the most slang-using kids in school meet up to talk about things in an offensive manner. Paulie tells Logs about the situation with Hannah, his ex-girlfriend. Logs says he shouldn't have told. FUCK YOU, Mr. Authority Figure. He would have "asked if you thought it might happen again or if you believed you could reign in those impulses from now on." Cheating once is totally okay, so long as you don't do it again! No no no, fuck no. As Paulie leaves this conversation, he remarks that he doesn't want to be like his father. Here's how you don't cheat you asshole: don't put your put your dick in someone who isn't your girlfriend. I know that's hard. (That's what she said.) It's so easy to accidentally screw someone else. Poor guy. Fuck that. Take responsibility for your own life. It's not your dad's fault you're an asshole, it's yours.

THEN they go to Period 8 and Hannah, who of course is there too, tells everyone that shit went down, and Paulie confesses that he told her the truth. At which point every freaking guy there says Psulie shouldn't have told her the truth. What. The. Fuck. I hate these people so much.



I ought to like Hannah at least. She was wronged, right? Well, yes, she was wronged, but then she goes off like this:

"'Can you believe this? Paulie Bomb cheats on his girlfriend, has the huevos to step up, and I'll bet ninety percent of the guys in this room think he's a pussy. Any of you chicks want to go lesbian with me? I mean, I'm liking the guy who cheated on me better than the ones who didn't, and I don't like him at all.'"

Is Crutcher serious with this? I have two main issues with this.
1) I feel like that "want to go lesbian with me?" thing is in seriously poor taste.
2) The language. I swear up a storm frequently. Swearing doesn't generally upset me, but every damn one in this book made me squirm. They don't feel natural; they feel forced, which makes the words not sit right.

Based on reviews, this book will not be getting any better, so I'm sparing myself the experience and am going to remember past Chris Crutcher instead of etching this into my memory. show less

I feel like there were two competing story lines in Period 8. There’s the events of the actual Period 8, a lunchtime get together of a jumble of high school students from different backgrounds, social groups, and grade levels. They’re led by Logs, the supportive teacher who leads what, in essence, becomes a high school therapy group. No topic is off-limits in Period 8, but everything remains confidential.

There’s quite a few scenes that take place in Period 8, and they all felt overly dramatic to me. It was a lot like watching a high school soap opera, and these scenes were by far my least favorite part of the book. While I do appreciate the idea of the listening, caring teacher who actually gets his students and supports them both show more in and out of class, the way the book reads seems just a little. . . off. I think it might be because we never really see the build-up to Period 8, instead there’s just a mess of characters all talking to each other about things that don’t seem like would normally be discussed so easily. Also, there’s a strong attempt to create a realistic teenage dialogue in this book, and while I think Chris Crutcher gets it better than most, it still feels a little stilted.

That’s story line A. Then, we have story line B, which is where the psychopathic bully comes in. I enjoyed this story line much more, because while it may not have been exactly realistic, the action didn’t feel forced and I really enjoyed the pacing. If there had been slightly more of a focus on what was actually going on and less of the conversations in Period 8, this book would have ended up with a much higher rating from me. Even though it’s pretty easy to spot the initial bully the first time he’s introduced, there’s quite a few plot twists that I didn’t see coming. The ending was left me reeling a little bit and I definitely had to read the last few pages again.

Unfortunately, this book does use one of my least favorite tropes– the informed character trait. We’re told Paulie is a good guy and great teenager by dialogue from other people before we ever get to see it. And while in this case the informed trait may actually be true, unlike some books, I still feel a little letdown whenever someone’s character is introduced to me through dialogue. It’s a minor thing in this book, but enough that I noticed it.

Ultimately, I did end up enjoying Period 8 more than I thought I would, but there are definitely some aspects of the book that didn’t quite do it for me.

Final Impression: There were two main story lines in Period 8, one of which I really disliked and one that I enjoyed immensely. As a result, I have a few mixed feelings on this book. There were a few things that annoyed me, such as the informed character trait and the forced teenage dialogue, but the twists towards the end were excellently done and this book definitely ended on a positive impression. 3/5 stars.

Review originally posted on my blog at Book. Blog. Bake. show less

In the introduction to the reader, Mr. Crutcher states he "put this book on steroids." After closing the last page of the book, I have come to a conclusion. All authors need to take Mr. Crutcher advice.

I have never read such a crazy, beautiful, MESSED up book. The plot first of all, takes the reader far away to a place of watching. As you watch the plot unfold, the reader gets chances with every chapter to start to peace things together. I like that the plot gives a good dose of everything. First a mystery from the past, then the future advice with the teacher, to students doing thing in present day. I never read a book that had everything so planned out yet you can't grasp it. (In a good way) If anything, this book kept me hooked right show more where I was and there was no way I was going to put down the book until I reached the last page.

The love interest. Well ,what can I say about that? Let's just say that the start of the book gave the tone for it. Crazy, out of this world, where teens makes hasty decisions, leaving them regretful. I like that in all of this mess, the kids came together to solve the big mystery. They start to learn to stop thinking about themselves and start thinking about others. Even the teacher, who gave wonderful advice, never steered his students wrong.

In the end, this book is EPIC! Once I got to the last chapter and watch the final piece come together I was utterly speechless. How can a book develop such a fantastic plot before my eyes and I not know it? A moving and affecting plot, Period 8 stands out before all. Orchestrated in a wicked, unfiltered way leaving the reader tangled in mystery and action, Period 8 is stunning! show less

A very different story from the kind the author usually writes. I think this one was less successful than his previous efforts because of poor pacing. The beginning seems to crawl and then it abruptly lurches into the endgame with little transition between them. This had the added effect of making all other characters (especially the eventual antagonists) vague and ill-defined in their motivations. I would also have appreciated more time for denouement.

I have loved most of this author's books in their strong humor and characterization, but unfortunately I felt this one was too uneven to really succeed.

Not for me.

Just a quick scan of the few reviews available for this book shows me those words appearing several times in one form or another. It seems to be the common opinion that this book is waiting to be loved by someone - though, who that someone is, it's hard to tell. Guys, maybe. Guys who like to read character studies and aren't put off by a plot that is slow and arguably not even there.

This was my first problem - this book is painfully slow. It is about a group of high school kids who meet every day in a lunch group called "Period 8". This group is ran by Logs, a soon-to-be retiring teacher who cares about his students like they were his own kids and offers them a place where they can talk about what is bothering them. What is show more said in Period 8, stays in Period 8. But two-thirds of the way in and very little has happened beyond these student conversations. Mary Wells goes missing, then reappears, then goes missing and then reappears again... but this is skimmed over, the main focus is the character discussions.

I don't mind a character-driven story as long as there is actually a story to drive and I felt this book contained too little plot. This is less a criticism and more an observation from the point of view of someone who doesn't like this style of storytelling. I think this book has the potential to be a favourite in the hands of the right person who appreciates something slower, with a subtle build-up to the bigger picture. I, unfortunately, found it tedious. It felt like I was waiting forever for the story to hit me, only to reach the end and realise that it was supposed to have happened somewhere in there.

However, I think I would have still given it three stars or at least another half if it wasn't for what I believe was a clumsy attempt to create teen characters by using annoying, stereotypical language. You know sometimes when authors exaggerate a character-type so much that, instead of becoming what they had intended, they just become laughable? Like creating a "bad boy" with tattoos, Harley, leather jacket and probably a skull earring to go with it all... well, I think very few high school teens actually speak like the ones in this book.

Like I said at the beginning, this is probably the right book for someone, but that someone just isn't me. show less