Authour: Jordan Sonnenblick
Length: 273 pages
How long it took me to read: 2 days
What it's about:
Thirteen-year-old Steven has a totally normal life: he plays drums in the All-Star Jazz band, has a crush on the hottest girl in the school, and is constantly annoyed by his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey. But when Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, Steven's world is turned upside down. He is forced to deal with his brother's illness and his parents' attempts to keep the family in one piece. Salted with humor and peppered with devastating realities, DRUMS, GIRLS, AND DANGEROUS PIE is a heartwarming journey through a year in the life of a family in crisis.
The ending is the most important part: Everything is wrapped up very neatly. I ended this book with a smile
Last word: I'm really glad that I read this after Dewey got the "all clear" at his five year cancer treatment check-up, otherwise this book would have upset me. It was funny, and sweet, and true. I really enjoyed it.
Spoilers after the jump:
It was obvious that this was Sonnenblick's first novel. A few things bugged me. It seemed a little juvenile at first. All the dialogue is written in italics and that was distracting. There was a LOT of detail about drumming that I didn't care about at first.
I didn't know that the little brother got cancer until I came across it in the book. It wasn't until Jeffrey started complaining that his "parts hurt" and I was transported to the time that Dewey started limping around that I realized that this book was about cancer. It caught me off guard, but everything that was written was true. How the parents were on auto pilot and Steven was left seemingly all alone. Cancer is hard, and this book shed a beautiful light on how a family deals with it.
I didn't exactly like this book at the beginning, but as the story progressed, I really liked it. The story was true, and funny, and sweet. I enjoyed the characters very much.
This was an easy, fun, relaxing read.
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