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A review by kaje_harper
151 Days by John Goode
4.0
This book finishes the Foster High series. I've become very attached to Brad and Kyle, and look forward to seeing them again as college students someday. But this story neatly wraps up the challenges of the town of Foster, and the fates of the people who live in it.
In some ways, this story is comfort-food. It's an affirmation that one person can change another person, and that if enough people do that, together they can change a town, and someday change the world.
Things happen in this book, both bad and good, but there is a pervasive sense of hope by the end. I appreciated that Kyle was allowed a few moments of being a jerk, and lost a little of his perfection and gained some humanity in the process. There were in fact, no perfect heroes and no pure villains in the story, just people with flaws and strengths and history. The effort to get the reader to empathize was well done, and if the eventual redemption was a bit universal across the characters, I think sometimes we all need that hope. Young adults most of all, perhaps.
I did feel that the device of showing the same scenes from more than one point of view led to too much repetition, particularly of dialogue, some of which I found myself skimming. It also resulted in a timeline that backtracked here and there, occasionally by years, and so this story didn't have the smooth flow of previous books in the series. On the positive side, the device gave us a deeper understanding of numerous characters and what motivated them. One of the hallmarks of a good story is that everyone's actions are well-motivated and understandable. There were no pure villains, just a lot of wrongdoing produced from old pain and hidden history.
This is one of several Young Adult books I've read lately that felt like a plea to teens, to learn from the painful experiences of those of us who came before. Like [b:Two Boys Kissing|17237214|Two Boys Kissing|David Levithan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1364194940s/17237214.jpg|23756923], there were passages here which spoke eloquently and clearly the words I've more than once wanted to get some teenager to hear. And like with that book, I do wonder if this is something that a young audience will take away from the story, or something they will disregard as "grown-up preaching" and have to relearn through their own bitter experiences. But it never hurts to try, and I did read this in one straight marathon, eager to see not only Kyle and Brad, but Robbie, Tyler, Jennifer, Sammy and many others come through to the end of the story.
In some ways, this story is comfort-food. It's an affirmation that one person can change another person, and that if enough people do that, together they can change a town, and someday change the world.
Things happen in this book, both bad and good, but there is a pervasive sense of hope by the end. I appreciated that Kyle was allowed a few moments of being a jerk, and lost a little of his perfection and gained some humanity in the process. There were in fact, no perfect heroes and no pure villains in the story, just people with flaws and strengths and history. The effort to get the reader to empathize was well done, and if the eventual redemption was a bit universal across the characters, I think sometimes we all need that hope. Young adults most of all, perhaps.
I did feel that the device of showing the same scenes from more than one point of view led to too much repetition, particularly of dialogue, some of which I found myself skimming. It also resulted in a timeline that backtracked here and there, occasionally by years, and so this story didn't have the smooth flow of previous books in the series. On the positive side, the device gave us a deeper understanding of numerous characters and what motivated them. One of the hallmarks of a good story is that everyone's actions are well-motivated and understandable. There were no pure villains, just a lot of wrongdoing produced from old pain and hidden history.
This is one of several Young Adult books I've read lately that felt like a plea to teens, to learn from the painful experiences of those of us who came before. Like [b:Two Boys Kissing|17237214|Two Boys Kissing|David Levithan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1364194940s/17237214.jpg|23756923], there were passages here which spoke eloquently and clearly the words I've more than once wanted to get some teenager to hear. And like with that book, I do wonder if this is something that a young audience will take away from the story, or something they will disregard as "grown-up preaching" and have to relearn through their own bitter experiences. But it never hurts to try, and I did read this in one straight marathon, eager to see not only Kyle and Brad, but Robbie, Tyler, Jennifer, Sammy and many others come through to the end of the story.