verafes

The concept that Chris Crutcher presents in Deadline is immediately engaging: Ben Wolf, a high school senior, finds out he has less than a year to live, but he decides not to tell anyone and he decides against treatment. Crutcher gives Ben a strong, funny, and appealing voice throughout the first-person, present-tense narrative. I found myself re-reading sections for the enjoyable pacing and humor. Crutcher also tries to tackle several huge issues -- religion, death, terminal illness, bipolar disorder, child molestation, child abuse, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, and suicide, to name a few. As each character reveals his or her secret, the story must work all the harder to haul the ever-increasing social-psychological load. Crutcher's tight sentences, punctuated frequently with sentence fragments, help to give some emotional breathing room, but the various issues still overwhelm the reader at times. Still, Crutcher created a lovely conclusive climax scene, and convinced me to read more of his books from that brief chapter alone. I really liked the story and its premise, but Crutcher sacrifices believability to make it all work. Is it leukemia, as so many reviewers say? I couldn't find any instances of Wolf naming his deadly disease. Wouldn't he feel the effects of the disease earlier? He's pretty darn healthy for a long, long time. I found it highly implausible that Ben's dream girl, Dallas Suzuki, would fall for him quite like that, especially with the secret she has. And, just how short is Ben? Crutcher gives his precise weight, but, for all the importance of Ben's height, the author never reveals his height. Missing significant details and Ben's series of too-fortunate events chipped away at the believability; Crutcher's commanding storytelling hooks you anyway.

2022-11-14 18:19