A review by bickie
Free Lunch by Rex Ogle

3.0

Well-written memoir account of the author's experience starting 6th grade, on the Free Lunch Program for the first time. Novel-like structure (note says author changed names/details and reconstructed conversations as best he could) is appealing, and Rex the student has to navigate changing friendships and a new school as well as poverty and an emotionally and physically abusive home life. As a white woman who has never experienced poverty or domestic violence, I do not feel I can comment on the "plot" or "events." They appear to be unvarnished and raw while also avoiding graphic details of the domestic violence and profanity (for example, he mentions someone using the "f" word). With the knowledge that I don't understand, I do wonder about the ending and the seemingly dangerous implication that

Spoiler

the abuse all stopped when his mom and her boyfriend got jobs and Rex started being nicer

. If his family is anything like most families that include domestic abuse, the cycle will likely come back around after the gifts and making up. It would have felt better to have an author's note about this and perhaps an assurance that children experiencing this kind of abuse do not deserve it even a little bit, no matter how much they let their understandable, complex feelings show. Ethan's implying an equivalency of their situations is uninformed (he really does not know the extent to Rex's family challenges) and furthers the feeling that children need to handle this stuff on their own.
Includes domestic violence (not sexual), drug/alcohol use (by kids in neighborhood), mean kids, poverty (pawn shop, government housing/food stamps, food insecurity)