The Last Summer Of The Death Warriors

How fortunate I feel to have come upon this author (who also wrote Marcelo in the Real World). He has a writing style and a writing heart that are different from any other author of whom I can call to mind.

Pancho Sanchez, age 17, is suddenly orphaned after his father was killed in an accident at work. (His mother had died when he was age five.) Three months later his mildly retarded sister Rosa died “from undetermined natural causes.” As Pancho mused:

"The list of losses that made up his life was so unbelievable, it was embarrassing. It was like he made the whole thing up just so people would feel sorry for him.”

But Pancho wasn’t feeling sorrow; rather, he was feeling an intense and barely controllable anger. He is convinced Rosa show more was murdered by the man she was with the night she died, and he resolves to avenge her death by finding him and killing him.

A social worker takes him to St. Anthony’s, an orphanage, and there he is assigned to be the caregiver of another boy his age, Daniel Quentin, known as D.Q., who has terminal brain cancer. But if you think this means that this book is depressing, it can only be that you have not yet read a book by Francisco X. Stork. This is not a treacly, idealized portrayal of people with cancer. Nor is it a dark book about death or violence. Furthermore, Pancho is not a conventional hero: he barely can read, has a weak vocabulary, has hardly ever used a computer, and has difficulty curbing his aggression.

On the way to Casa Esperanza - a cancer treatment facility - D.Q. explains to Pancho that he has been working on a document called Death Warrior Manifesto. He had been inspired by Henry Thoreau, who wrote in Walden:

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life….”

The Manifesto sets out D.Q.'s commitment to live life to the fullest - with love and with gratitude - as long as there is life to be had, and to die with courage when there is not.

D.Q. also tells Pancho that he is in love with a girl who works at Casa Esperanza, Marisol. Unfortunately, Pancho becomes attracted to her as well.

At Casa Esperanza, D.Q. undergoes grueling chemotherapy. In the meantime, D.Q. and Pancho struggle with one another: D.Q. knows of Pancho’s plans to avenge Rosa’s death, and resents that he is throwing away his health and life (which D.Q. would love to have) on hate. Pancho fights to retain the energy of his hate so he can fulfill his plan, even as D.Q. and Marisol and the young kids with cancer threaten to make him “soft.” Pancho wrestles with his feelings for Marisol: should he wish D.Q. recovers or dies? And D.Q. fights against the tendency toward despair that vitiates his commitment to his Death Warrior Manifesto.

Stork’s endings are never what you think, but somehow they manage to strike exactly the right note.

Discussion: I have now read three of Stork’s books. Even though the story of each is quite different, there are some commonalities that allow you to recognize the author’s quite distinctive voice. He tackles topics in his books like disease and death and love and hate and belief in God, but they aren’t by any means “heavy” books. And yet you don’t forget them in a couple of weeks either, as can happen with many others. He consistently poses the question “what makes life worth living?,” and asks you to consider the answers along with his characters. And here’s something else: his male protagonists have an ultimate goodness that makes them sympathetic even if covered up by the worst sort of carapace. His women are exceptional: strong and loving. They teach the men that strength is not just about physical domination. Stork also evinces in every story a respect for life and faith, and a love for Mexican culture. I think of him as similar to a folk artist, whose skill is different than that of a classical painter, and yet valid and beautiful in its own right.

Evaluation: You might wonder, why would I want to read a book about Asperger’s (Marcelo in the Real World), or about a man on death row (The Way of the Jaguar), or about a boy dying of cancer? I can only tell you, read Stork, and you will discover first, that the books are not about the disease or condition, and second, that this author's appeal rests not only with his simplicity of prose, but with characters whose dreams and desires make the pages seem to glimmer with a spiritual appreciation of humanity in all of its manifestations. show less

Francisco X. Stork’s thought provoking book, Marcelo in the Real World (recent winner of the Schneider Family Book Award for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences), prompted me to read The Last Summer of the Death Warriors and while I like Marcelo better, I wasn’t disappointed with the Death Warriors.

Daniel Quentin (D.Q.) and Pancho Sanchez meet each other at St. Anthony’s orphanage. Both seventeen years old, D.Q. has been there for several years. However, six months ago he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Pancho’s family has died; first his mother, then his father, and finally his older sister, Rosa, who was mentally slow. She was found dead in a motel room, show more apparently of natural causes. Pancho is sure someone killed her and has vowed revenge.

When D.Q. sees Pancho, he’s sure that Pancho is the one to carry on the Death Warrior Manifesto that D.Q. is writing. Death Warriors don’t whine. They love life. Everyone at St. Anthony’s has a job and Pancho’s is to help D.Q., first to clean out a room for D.Q. to move into, then to help him get around and ultimately to help him during chemo sessions that his mother is forcing him to take in the hopes that it will put the cancer in remission.

In The Last Summer of the Death Warriors Stork has pitted an extremely intelligent D.Q. against a less educated, more street smart Pancho. They both have goals: D.Q. to die (or to live) with dignity and Pancho to avenge his sister’s death. But as they are forced to spend time together, they learn so much. D.Q. learns that his mother, although she left him at the orphanage during a difficult time in her life, means well and wants him to get better and will resort to even the mystical if it provides hope. Pancho learns that revenge is not all that it is cracked up to be.

Stork has written great characters. He explores serious issues, such as a patient’s rights to treatment. He explores relationships. Of course, D.Q. thinks he’s in love with someone (Marisol) who falls in love with Pancho. It’s interesting how the two boys handle the situation. Pancho, D.Q. and Marisol are real, deep characters. The remaining characters are less fleshed out. Stork’s works are thought provoking (as I said earlier) and they are worth reading. While I found some of the action to be unrealistic, The Last Summer of the Death Warriors is well written realistic fiction. show less

Pancho has been dropped at an orphanage after losing his entire family, both parents have died and his older sister Rosa has recently been found dead. Although the official report says "natural causes", Pancho is convinced she has been murdered and wants to get revenge on the man he feels is responsible. At the orphanage, Pancho's life becomes linked to DQ, a long-time resident who is trying his best to survive brain cancer. DQ frequently waxes philosophical and convinces the director of the orphanage that Pancho needs to become his companion and accompany him to Albuquerque where he'll undergo a clinical trial, see his estranged mother, and be reunited with Marisol. The relationship between these two characters and the journey they show more take over the course of the book is compelling. While DQ remains enigmatic, Pancho grows and changes with the powerful and profound experiences he has during his time becoming a "death warrior", the philosophy of life manifesto DQ is constructing while coming to terms with his own mortality. show less

Why should you become a Death Warrior? So you can live and die with truth and courage, and because life is too painful when you're wasteful with the time given to you.
This is the fifth principal in what is to become the Death Warrior Manifesto. The Manifesto teaches you how to live life with arms wide open, grasping everything, missing nothing. But Pancho doesn't really care about that. His manifesto hinges on finding the guy that killed his sister and making sure he makes the guy pay. In the meantime, the anger inside makes him want to hit things. So he searches for trouble. He is, in many ways, Daniel Quentin's, DQ's, opposite. He wants to live his life underneath the radar. He figures he'll off the guy and then go to jail. Beyond show more that, nothing matters.

He's assigned to help DQ and goes to Albuquerque with him as DQ undergoes treatment for brain cancer. Pancho knows he can find his sister's killer there so he's happy to go. "He didn't have anything personal against his sister's killer. Unless you consider hatred personal."

While in Albuquerque Pancho starts helping out at the center where he meets Marisol and Josie. He also gets thrown in the middle of DQ and Helen, DQ's mom. But, nothing changes his mind. He has a job to do.

One of my favorite reads so far this year! It can be used both in the classroom and as a book club pick because there are many things to discuss - The Death Warrior as a metaphor, paradox, simile, having students write their own manifestos, boxing as an allegory, faith, meaning of love... so much! I actually liked this one more than Marcelo in the Real World. It's a quiet book that grabs you in the heart. Loved it. show less

Pancho Sanchez and Daniel Quentin (a.k.a. D.Q.) are an unusual pair. Pancho is a 17-year-old teen with a difficult past. His mother died when he was just five, his father was recently killed in a terrible freak-accident, and his developmentally delayed sister died – or, according to Pancho, was murdered – just three months later. D.Q. has been diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer that is nearly always terminal, and lives at St. Anthony’s, and orphanage for teenage boys, although his mother is alive, well, and desperate to have D.Q. back in her life. D.Q., on the other hand, wants nothing to do with his mother, and has agreed to spend his summer undergoing an experimental treatment according to her wishes in exchange for show more emancipation.

Their unlikely partnership begins when D.Q. requests that Pancho, who has just moved into St. Anthony’s, spend the summer working as his aide, to keep him company while he receives his treatments in Albuquerque. Pancho agrees, especially when his search into his sister’s death leads him to believe that the man who was with Rosa when she died is living there. While D.Q. is focusing on becoming a “death warrior” by living every moment of what life he has left, Pancho has resigned himself to effectively ending his by killing the man who killed his sister, with no hope of not getting caught. In the end, both boys are challenged and changed in their views of themselves and what they want for their futures.

Stork manages to work in a wide variety of issues and themes into his novel, some of them heavy-handed, and some of them running just under the surface. With death an ever present reality for both boys, issues of faith and future are a constant question, although formal religion is only faintly present. Stork deftly works in depictions of class, race, and economic disparity between the characters, and subtly references how much of an impact these factors have on how the characters see, experience, and are treated by the world around them. The fact that the character’s names are an allusion to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza remind you to focus on the journey that they take, and to look critically at how they create their own realities. This is a great book for adults and teenagers alike, and forces you to ask the question of what it means to really live. show less

Stork, Francisco X. (2010). The Last Summer of the Death Warriors. New York: Scholastic Press. 348 pp. ISBN 978-0-545-15133-7 (Hard Cover); $17.99.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray won the Printz award last year for her amazing retelling of Don Quixote. Can lightning strike twice? Stork has a very different book that also makes use of Cervantes’ classic story to tell of Pancho’s attempt to avenge the death of his sister. Pancho KNOWS that his sister Rosa was murdered despite his lack of evidence; knows that the police will not spend too much time investigating the death of a disabled, orphaned girl; and he knows that he will avenge her death. His plans, however, have not taken into consideration the Death Warrior Manifesto that D.Q. is show more writing or Marisol. Pancho is placed in an orphanage where he meets D.Q., a “Death Warrior” who is battling a rare and deadly cancer that he is determined to beat while also searching for love. Pancho realizes that by assisting and traveling with D.Q. he has solved his transportation problem to the city housing his sister’s killer. Assisting D.Q., however, pulls Pancho under the spell of Marisol, the girl whom D.Q. hopes to woo. Love complicates Pancho’s murder plot and calls into question Pancho’s love for his sister (or, at least, Pancho’s somewhat twisted notion of love). The characters are deftly drawn. While readers quickly realize that Pancho’s plans for revenge are immature at best, the real drama unfolds in Pancho’s growing relationship with D.Q. and Marisol. Astute readers will recognize the code of chivalry and Pancho’s intuitive realization that the code he has created for his own life does not match the very real people with whom he comes into contact. This is another book that uses intertextuality with great skill. Stork has created very real characters. Especially noteworthy is the dialogue in this text. Despite a story framework built around Don Quixote, the story is fresh and often quite funny, despite its serious subject matter. Teachers wanting books with big ideas to explore will appreciate the major themes Stork has crafted into this excellent book. Purchase this one for high school students. show less

Well, without a doubt The Last Summer Of The Death Warriors will be on my Best of 2010 Book List. (Forget the YA lit-tag, I'd put this book up against any adult book that's likely to come out this year. It's that good.)

And one of the things that makes it THAT good is that the plot is character driven. Not that there isn't action and drama -- there is. But what kept me tearing through the pages was that I cared about the young folk that are at the heart of this story. The friendship that develops between them, the love that manages to carry the messages of The Death Warrior's code beyond the pain and aches that blind us to possibilities.

The setting is in current times. The principal actor is a young man named Poncho who is tormented by show more his circumstances. Angry and confused after the loss of his father and then his sister, he's not quite sure whether he should or can track down the man who murdered his sister.

The writing in this book is astoundingly good and the story is both compelling and complex. Francisco Stork using boxing as tool to understand Poncho's actions and thoughts brilliantly.

Pam T~
mom and reviewer at BooksForKids-reviews show less