Review of A Bloody Book
Posted: 25 Sep 2021, 09:59
[Following is a volunteer review of "A Bloody Book" by Chris Bowen.]
Good parents and good teachers are the two most important pillars of everyone's childhood. If either of the two will lack support, our childhood will turn out to be disturbing. But what if both the pillars are defective?
A Bloody Book by Chris Bowen is a fictional book with an intelligent message in it. It is a short story on 162 pages written in the form of narration. In the book, the main character Maxx, a thirteen-year-old is narrating the whole story. Maxx was in eighth grade when he was supposed to do an assignment that he didn't finish on time, and still Mr Foxx, his class teacher gave him an A in that assignment. The topic of the assignment was "when you stop giving a crap in your life." The whole book is pay off of that A to Mr Foxx.
Like other kids, Maxx joined the kindergarten with an ambition to learn, but after some time, Maxx is thrown into reading hell because of his bad performance in academics. Maxx belongs to a low socioeconomic household; his father is a drunkard and his mother remains the only bread earner of the entire family. Maxx has to take care of his younger sister Ronnie who is only two and needs constant look after. Due to all these reasons Maxx is not able to focus on his studies and is lacking behind. Not only him, but other children in the reading hell are also going through similar conditions at their home, due to which they are unable to focus on their studies and live up to their full potential. Maxx and Ronnie are living alone in their house after the death of their father. The story unfolds in an amazing manner answering questions and revealing the harsh truths in Maxx's life. Where is their mother? Why she left them like this? How did they meet uncle Jonny? How did their father die?
How Chris Bowen conveyed the message of the importance of good parenting and good teaching in the form of a story is commendable. At first, the author in a soft-spoken language has beautifully explained that all the students who are not good in academics are not dumb. They have problems that the privileged children do not encounter. The author also pointed out the mistakes on the part of teachers while dealing with these types of children. Chris Bowen in a very subtle way wrote, teachers tend to teach good students enthusiastically and they do not give their hundred per cent while dealing with weak students. They do not take them along with the good students and try to humiliate them for being academically weak. The second theme of the book is good parenting. The author wrote, why is it important for parents to spend time with their children while growing. He wrote both about the good and bad aspects of not spending time with children in the growing phase. In the end, the book has a big reveal. I liked the character of Maxx as a brother, he was only nine when their mother left them alone to perish but he managed to take care of his sister. He was the one who looked after her all the time.
Honestly, there is nothing that I disliked about the book apart from the character of Mrs Grenner. It was disturbing to read how she tried to insult Ricky the Spellman for his wrong spellings.
I give this book 4 out of 4 ratings.The book is written in a simple language to understand, the book has some typing errors, overall, the book is professionally edited. The theme of the book is an everyday issue that we see and come across many a time in our lives.
I would like to recommend this book to everyone, but I want all the teachers and parents to read this book particularly.
******
A Bloody Book
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Good parents and good teachers are the two most important pillars of everyone's childhood. If either of the two will lack support, our childhood will turn out to be disturbing. But what if both the pillars are defective?
A Bloody Book by Chris Bowen is a fictional book with an intelligent message in it. It is a short story on 162 pages written in the form of narration. In the book, the main character Maxx, a thirteen-year-old is narrating the whole story. Maxx was in eighth grade when he was supposed to do an assignment that he didn't finish on time, and still Mr Foxx, his class teacher gave him an A in that assignment. The topic of the assignment was "when you stop giving a crap in your life." The whole book is pay off of that A to Mr Foxx.
Like other kids, Maxx joined the kindergarten with an ambition to learn, but after some time, Maxx is thrown into reading hell because of his bad performance in academics. Maxx belongs to a low socioeconomic household; his father is a drunkard and his mother remains the only bread earner of the entire family. Maxx has to take care of his younger sister Ronnie who is only two and needs constant look after. Due to all these reasons Maxx is not able to focus on his studies and is lacking behind. Not only him, but other children in the reading hell are also going through similar conditions at their home, due to which they are unable to focus on their studies and live up to their full potential. Maxx and Ronnie are living alone in their house after the death of their father. The story unfolds in an amazing manner answering questions and revealing the harsh truths in Maxx's life. Where is their mother? Why she left them like this? How did they meet uncle Jonny? How did their father die?
How Chris Bowen conveyed the message of the importance of good parenting and good teaching in the form of a story is commendable. At first, the author in a soft-spoken language has beautifully explained that all the students who are not good in academics are not dumb. They have problems that the privileged children do not encounter. The author also pointed out the mistakes on the part of teachers while dealing with these types of children. Chris Bowen in a very subtle way wrote, teachers tend to teach good students enthusiastically and they do not give their hundred per cent while dealing with weak students. They do not take them along with the good students and try to humiliate them for being academically weak. The second theme of the book is good parenting. The author wrote, why is it important for parents to spend time with their children while growing. He wrote both about the good and bad aspects of not spending time with children in the growing phase. In the end, the book has a big reveal. I liked the character of Maxx as a brother, he was only nine when their mother left them alone to perish but he managed to take care of his sister. He was the one who looked after her all the time.
Honestly, there is nothing that I disliked about the book apart from the character of Mrs Grenner. It was disturbing to read how she tried to insult Ricky the Spellman for his wrong spellings.
I give this book 4 out of 4 ratings.The book is written in a simple language to understand, the book has some typing errors, overall, the book is professionally edited. The theme of the book is an everyday issue that we see and come across many a time in our lives.
I would like to recommend this book to everyone, but I want all the teachers and parents to read this book particularly.
******
A Bloody Book
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon