Module 7: Realistic Fiction
Book: Brutal
Author: Michael Harmon
Plot
The plot
revolves around Poe Holly and her adolescent experience on life. She moves in
with her dad whom she hasn’t met or seen since birth (she’s 16) because her
well-to-do-super-hero-mother-surgeon is in South America doing her medical
thing for the people of the jungle. She is from Los Angeles and moves to a
small wine town in California. Her father is the complete opposite of her (and
her mother) and is also the Counselor for her high school. They butt heads as
much as Poe butts heads with the adults at her high school. There is definitely
a class system in her school that allows the jocks and academics to run rampant
with power while the ones who don’t fit into this criteria are bullied. The
number one target for being bullied is Velveeta while the person who can’t be
bullied is Theo (his dad is the mayor). Poe, on the other hand, is waging war
by questioning authority and proving herself to be right. Of course she gets in
trouble but it is for a good cause. There are so many things going on in this
book that I can’t just pin point one problem for teens to empathize/sympathize
with. The bullying is the biggest issue in the book that teens will understand.
Also, the book touches on divorce, competition (Poe in the choir), questioning
authority, rebellion, peer pressure, being your own person, and not getting
along with parents. These are all issues within the plot that are not only
believable but very probable in the life of a young adult.
Impressions of the book
Although
I respect the novel for what is, I didn’t really enjoy it as a whole because
some of the issues in the book were too embellished for me and not relevant to
my experiences. I’m not saying this to undermine bullying and the extreme
violence that comes with this particular book’s bullying, divorce, teenage
angst and all of the themes in the book but I went through a different type of
adolescents. For me, Perks of Being a
Wallflower was far more superior on a literary level and the subject matter
was more relevant to my experience as a teen. A lot of my anger was internal
and I never really expressed it externally by undermining authority but rather
jeopardizing my own mortality by actively being a danger to myself and thinking
that I was the authority. I grew out of the teenage phase but that doesn’t mean
I know how to be an adult; I may be one but I sure don’t feel like one. Brutal for me is a reminder that every
single adolescent experience is uniquely different, just like books. Not liking
the novel took me aback quite a bit because I realized that I would never have
been friends with Poe, or Theo, or Velveeta. I realized that I didn’t like the
book because this book took me back to high school and I didn’t have any
friends because I didn’t like anyone. It’s crazy what books can do to one’s
psyche. So, to feel better, I re-read Perks
and found my friends in this novel. With that said, don’t take my word for
it and read Brutal for yourself to
see if you fit in the story and can believe that the characters could be your
friends. I don’t regret
having read the novel, I
only wish I would have liked it.
Usage in a Library
Setting
The novel can be used as an example of the social issues
and political implications in schools that preach diversity without a solid
foundation to back up the premise of equality. It can also be a conversation
starter with regards to anti-bullying 101.
Reviews
“An angry 16-year-old shakes up her school
when she challenges its social order. When Poe moves from Los Angeles to
suburban California to live with her father, a man she has no relationship
with, she's furious: furious at her dynamo doctor of a mother for deserting her
to take a year's sabbatical to care for the poor and furious at her dad for his
neglect and emotional passivity. The focus of this highly charged novel is not
Poe's dysfunctional family, however, but a question that has dogged high-school
students from time immemorial. Why is it that the more socially elite students
get to prey upon the less so? And the rather savvy answer Harmon comes
up with is that it's because the adults who run the school allow it. A mention
of Columbine at a faculty-student meeting somewhat negates this premise, as it
reverses the power dynamic in readers' minds, and some of the
characterizations, such as Poe's perfect boyfriend, seem more functional than
fully human. Still, strong medicine with a strong message.”-Kirkus Reviews
APA Citations
BRUTAL. (2009). Kirkus
Reviews, 77(3), 172.
Harmon, M. B. (2009). Brutal.
New York, N.Y: Alfred A. Knopf.
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