American Youth

I met Phil LaMarche, although briefly, when I learned he was a tutor to one of the young men I've met through my research. I learned he wrote a novel and ordered it online. It came on Saturday and I've used it to distract my mind over the last three nights. The praises for this text are deserving and I'd recommend it for educators who want their students to think about many universal issues.

I'm quickly reacting, however, with the theme of change and how the American landscape doesn't sit still. The pastoral, nature writers of a pollyanna past is the setting for the suburbanization of LaMarche's characters. A boy who hunts finds himself with a friend who is killed by the bullet of a gun. The rest becomes the politics of adults where youth, coming of age, must find the answer for doing the right thing themselves.

I think it was karma to meet Phil a few weeks back so I could find myself, later, siting in contemplation of this text. I wish all youth of America could find the passion for reading books that speak to them, because I know this book has spoken to me.