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A review by heykellyjensen
Second Impact by David Klass
2.0
I didn't buy this at all, and because I didn't buy it, I can't appreciate what it was. The problem with the book is the set up and execution: it's told through two blogs written by a high school football player and a former high school soccer star, knocked out due to injury. While the premise sounds great -- high schoolers blogging for their school paper -- these are the lengthiest, most grammatically-proper, strangest blog posts. In other words, the blog convention fails big time.
Jerry has a second chance to make a name for himself. Last year, his big ego got to him and he got himself drunk at a party, got behind the wheel of a car, and hurt someone. But rather than be punished, he's given another opportunity to do well (football gets you privilege, is the message). He's at least VERY aware of this second chance and doesn't use it for evil. That's part of why he takes on blogging. He wants to share his experience.
Carla, our other blogger, has journalism in her future, especially now that a knee injury's sidelined her permanently. She blogs about the surgery she endures, and it's through this that she finds her passion in sports injuries and the sports recovery process. So much so that when a football player suffers a concussion at one of the early games, she reports on it. She reports on things she shouldn't be sharing, too.
This book explores not just sports culture, but it also explores ethics relating to journalism, medicine, and privacy of athletes to their own injuries. While it's interesting and sports enthusiasts will enjoy this, the convention and construct that add absolutely nothing to the story and make it inauthentic. These aren't real teen voices -- and yet, had the story not been told through these student blogs, it could have been a great pair of teen voices. Bonus points for NO ROMANCE in this book.
Give this to readers who want a more mature story after finishing Jordan Sonnenblick's Curveball (sports injuries and sports journalism are tie-ins) and those who enjoyed Bill Konigsburg's Out of the Pocket (football, the pressure of being a leader on the team, and the ethics of reporting and journalism).
Jerry has a second chance to make a name for himself. Last year, his big ego got to him and he got himself drunk at a party, got behind the wheel of a car, and hurt someone. But rather than be punished, he's given another opportunity to do well (football gets you privilege, is the message). He's at least VERY aware of this second chance and doesn't use it for evil. That's part of why he takes on blogging. He wants to share his experience.
Carla, our other blogger, has journalism in her future, especially now that a knee injury's sidelined her permanently. She blogs about the surgery she endures, and it's through this that she finds her passion in sports injuries and the sports recovery process. So much so that when a football player suffers a concussion at one of the early games, she reports on it. She reports on things she shouldn't be sharing, too.
This book explores not just sports culture, but it also explores ethics relating to journalism, medicine, and privacy of athletes to their own injuries. While it's interesting and sports enthusiasts will enjoy this, the convention and construct that add absolutely nothing to the story and make it inauthentic. These aren't real teen voices -- and yet, had the story not been told through these student blogs, it could have been a great pair of teen voices. Bonus points for NO ROMANCE in this book.
Give this to readers who want a more mature story after finishing Jordan Sonnenblick's Curveball (sports injuries and sports journalism are tie-ins) and those who enjoyed Bill Konigsburg's Out of the Pocket (football, the pressure of being a leader on the team, and the ethics of reporting and journalism).