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Personal Effects
| Title | Personal Effects |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2024-10-11 23:49:14 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
After his older brother dies in Iraq, Matt makes a discovery that rocks his beliefs about strength, bravery, and honor in this page-turning debut.Ever since his brother, T.J., was killed in Iraq, Matt feels like he’s been sleepwalking through life — failing classes, getting into fights, and avoiding his dad’s lectures about following in his brother’s footsteps. T.J.’s gone, but Matt can’t shake the feeling that if only he could get his hands on his brother’s stuff from Iraq, he’d be able to make sense of his death. But as Matt searches for answers about T.J.’s death, he faces a shocking revelation about T.J.’s life that suggests he may not have known T.J. as well as he thought. What he learns challenges him to stand up to his father, honor his brother’s memory, and take charge of his own life. With compassion, humor, and a compelling narrative voice, E. M. Kokie explores grief, social mores, and self-discovery in a provocative first novel.
Review
A really hard, powerful book about love, loss, and family. Matt is a very angry teenage boy, but considering his father, and the home he lives in, and losing his brother, his rage is understandable. His father is not a nice person, and his inability, and unwillingness to cope with the loss of son, and his verbal and physical abuse, help to make Matt the mess he is. His reaction to his brother's secret isn't positive, and it isn't necessarily fair, but considering where he comes from, and what he has been brought up thinking, it is in no way out of left field. I think it made him feel less connected to his brother, and considering how much he admired and looked up to his brother, knowing that his brother kept such a big part of his life secret from him was devastating. To Matt, it was like his brother was equating him with their father, and considering how little respect they had for their father, it made Matt question how much his brother truly loved, and trusted him. I really liked Matt's crush on Shauna. It was a nice change of pace to read a book about a teenage boy with such a sweet crush on a girl instead of the other way around. I really liked Shauna, and how much she cared for, and supported Matt. She was a smart, capable girl, and even when she was angry, and hurt, she didn't keep Matt from doing what he needed to do. The ending was well done. It felt like Matt had undergone real change in the way he viewed himself, and those around him. I liked that while it felt hopeful, it wasn't a fairy tale ending. Things show signs of improving but, it is going to take work, patience, and understanding on everyone's part to sustain, and grow. A really well told story that was hard to put down.
