Book Review #24: Quaking
Posted by whirlofwings on April 2, 2010
Filed under Book Reviews and tagged book review, kathryn erskine, quaking, teen fiction
“I cannot get away from the Photo of Death. It is not only in World Civ now. It is in the library. Slapped partially across the top of the peace club sign on the conference room door. As if the photo itself is not enough of an affront, someone has scrawled words coming out of the dead marine’s mouth: Are you with us or with them? An arrow points from the words to the peace club sign. “
-Quaking by Kathryn Erskine (p. 125)
Story: Matt is an outcast, traveling from home to home. She is an outcast in school as well, most kids avoid her. Matt is being arranged to live with Sam and Jessica, a Quaker couple with one adopted son, a disabled boy Matt at first calls the Blob. Matt is determined to leave as quickly as possible, she is planning to go to Canada.
In school, Matt is shocked to hear that she applies for all AP classes. She takes them in hopes of graduating sooner. However, in her World Civilization class the teacher Mr. Morehead, or as Matt calls him, Mr. Warhead does not believe in peace and is obsessed with war. Also, a bully known as the Rat is in that class. He too, is obsessed with war.
Adding to her problems, Matt also has to battle with the demons of her past, which are constantly reappearing. She also has to make sure she does not get too attached to Sam and Jessica, out of fear of rejection.
My opinion: Three and a half stars. The book is short, but amusing. It isn’t spectacular, but I didn’t get bored reading it. I normally don’t tend to read many religious books, but Quaking did not have too much religiousness. In fact, the main topic the characters debate about is peace. What I loved most was that the book’s narrator (Matt) knew when to be serious, and when to be humorous. This book has the perfect balance of both – a hard task to pull off.
However, the unfortunate thing was that not too much of Matt’s past is revealed. There are only some clues. Also, sometimes there aren’t too many events going on. As for plot and character development, they’re fine but I noticed that Sam and Jess don’t change too much while Matt changes drastically.
Want more? Kathryn Erskine’s website has more information on Quaking and her other books. Goodreads, Author’s Den, and Boys Blogging Books also review Quaking.
Upcoming reviews: I went to the library, and I’m now on hold for Angelology. However, I found these books I’ll make reviews on:
-The Maze Runner by James Dashner
-Airman by Eoin Colfer
So long.
-whirlofwings
Comments
Leave a Reply
Who’s looking at WoT?
