Hurricane is one of those slow-moving stories that doesn't have a significant plot, but more of a theme. I choose it as a book to read to Morgan, knowing he'd enjoy a simple story of two boys growing up in the South. Obviously, he was able to identify with it more than I was as girls are completely absent in the book.
Two boys, one white (Davey) and one black (Luke), are the best of friends growing up in the bean-picking part of Florida during the time in America's history when racial tensions were at their highest. The two boys refuse to conform to anyone's idea of race or friendship. They stick together through the trials and tribulations of growing up, battling Davey's grandfather of allowing him to play with Luke and the town's perceptions of black people are lesser than the white majority. In the end, Davey, Pop, Luke, and his family must all come together when a hurricane threatens Florida.Published in 1964, the book was a bit too simple for me. Morgan seemed to enjoy it and looked forward to the nights I got to read it to him. The only exciting part of the book was the last two chapters when the hurricane hit. Before that, it's just random happenstances that the boys go through that proves how "awesome" and "amazing" Luke is even though he's black (according to the thought processes of the town's white people) by having him save a neighbor's house from a wildfire and helping Pop when the old man slices open his foot with a hatchet.
I definitely missed the age group boat on this one. A good book... but not necessarily for someone who just read The Children of Men... as bad as that was.
No comments:
Post a Comment