Breaking Point

A disturbing, blunt picture of how we as teenagers, parents, teachers, and even society as a whole fail ourselves and each other miserably. Very intense, particularly for anyone who has ever come close to the "breaking point." This left me very emotionally charged.

Paul is new to GATE high school, a private school where his mom has gotten a teaching job. He is bullied and picked on until he becomes friends with a boy named Charlie. Charlie seems like the perfect child. He doesn’t get in trouble at school, he gets good grades, he is very popular with the students and the teachers, and he is in athletics. When Paul starts hanging out with Charlie everyone becomes his friend. He begins drinking, causing minor destruction like knocking over mail boxes, and leaves campus at lunch with his new friends. Girls start to notice him and he begins to party. The problem is, hanging with Charlie comes at a price. The first time Charlie asks for a favor, it is to break into the school and change Charlie’s show more grade for one class. Paul hesitates with this and says no. The next day, Paul is back to being bullied. So, Paul decides to do it. Then Charlie and him become closer. Paul goes over to Charlie’s house everyday after school. They play video games together on the computer and tell each other secrets. Charlie calls Paul his best friend. It isn’t until Charlie asks Paul to do something even more dangerous that Paul hits his breaking point.
Flinn states that she wrote this book about something that scared her. She wanted to investigate what it would be like to be inside the head of a high school student that was traveling through this uncertainty and struggle with the hatred of his classmates. What would it take for someone to be pushed so hard that they would take drastic measures. As a school teacher, I often wonder the same thing. I studied a lot about violence in schools because I wanted to be someone who would stop it. I enjoy the fact that my students like to be around me even though I can be strict in class. I’ve often found that middle school and high school students put more effort into your classroom when they enjoy being there. I know this aside is not directly related to the book, but it is the reason why I wanted to read it in the first place. I try to read all of the books that I can that involve school violence. This is very well written. I can identify with Paul. I wish that someone would have seen what was going on before the plot escalated. I wonder if people saw the trouble in Charlie and ignored it. That direction is something I would have enjoyed discovering more about. I would recommend this book to young adults that are 14 and over with some discussion from adults. I think it’s an important topic to investigate and discussion is crucial in that investigation. Parents and teachers should definitely read this book with their students/children.
4/5 stars show less

This is a book that affected me because I am a teenager going through similar things Paul Richmond went through, though on a much smaller scale. After reading the novel, I was able to learn that one's actions may cause much larger reactions than one may have anticipated. Flinn proposes an interesting inquiry whether or not one is able to control one's reactions or if others provoking one instigate one’s reactions. An unpredictable story, Breaking Point is definitely a book I would advise any teenager to read. I do not think this book will catch the attention of adults unless they are in an environment with teenagers.

This was a good book and a quick read, but there's just nothing special about it. Charlie and Paul come off as believable characters, it's just hard to believe the events that happen to Paul and he never goes and tells anyone. His relationship with his father also stretches the bonds of believability.

Alas, this is practically a carbon copy of Cormier's much better book The Chocolate War.

Good recommendation for male reluctant readers. Moral of the story: Your actions produce consequences that you are in control of.

I hated this book. If you want to read a book about male peer pressure that is gross, disturbing and will make you very angry, then you may have a different opinion of it than I did. I really didn't like the senseless violence, meanness, cruelty to animals. This book was just too much for me. A plot review from Amazon is pasted for you below.
Amazon.com
Tripped in class, mooned in the hall, cola poured through the slats in his locker, spitballs stuck in his hair--how much more can Paul Richmond take at his super-snobby private school, expensive Gate-Bicknell Christian? Paul is there free because his mom works in the guidance office, but that fact makes him an instant outcast, his only friend a funny-looking, independent girl named Binky. show more Even worse off is David Blanco, whose mom is a cafeteria lady and whose father is the janitor. The jocks hound him unmercifully, even killing his dog. When Paul goes to David's house to offer sympathy, David rejects him angrily, saying "You'll be next." Binky, too, tries to explain the cruelty of the rich kids who surround them, but Paul yearns to be accepted anyway. So when cool, elegant, and charismatic Charlie Good asks for his help in computer lab, Paul is eager to comply, and later, when Charlie and his henchmen, Meat and St. John, come for him in the night for a game of mailbox baseball, Paul willingly does the bashing. Gradually he is accepted at school as part of Charlie's group, but for a price: having to hack into the school computers to change Charlie's D in biology. When David Blanco kills himself and the school simply ignores it, Paul is momentarily taken aback, especially when he learns that David had been Charlie's ally last year. But then Charlie reveals his real plan, for which everything else has been preliminary, and Paul has his last chance to say no.
And.. a plot synopsis I wrote...
In the book Breaking Point by Alex Flinn, awkward teenage boy Paul is an outcast at his new expensive private school. His newly divorced mom is dirt poor, but he gets free tuition since she works there. He keeps getting tripped in lines, has been mooned in the hall, has soda poured into his locker and sticky stuff squirted into his backpack and spit balls keep landing in his hair. He befriends two other loners, Binky and David who try to warn him about the kids there. Then Charlie Good steps in and elevates his status overnight. Paul is thrilled to be accepted now. Charlie does however have some requirements to stay on his good side. Paul becomes emerged in various illegal and unkind activities. Just how far will he go to remain friends with Charlie? show less