“Trapped” by Michael Northrop

I don’t know what it is lately, but for the last year or so I have been picking up books to read which have tremendous similarities to the book I just finished.  Such was the case with “Gone” and “Trapped.”  Both feature young people suddenly bereft of adults as they sit in school.  Both feature significant disasters which put the kids in great peril, and both feature male protagonists that are “regular guys.”  “Trapped” is the story of six young people caught inside of their high school during a massive blizzard.  The book is told from the perspective of Sophomore Scotty Weems, a 2^nd string basketball kid who lives on the edge of cool, but isn’t a geek, either.  Scotty’s voice is realistic (almost too much so, with a focus on gross guy humor and girl fixations) and in many ways, that is what carries the story.  Amidst extraordinary circumstances, you can buy into Scotty being a well-rounded, “real” teen … avoiding the seriousness of the situation, and occasionally obsessed with a growing zit on his face.  The near-fatal circumstances help push the short book forward, as I was turning from page to page to see if the end result would be as dire as I predicted.  The characterization and pacing were two big plusses but the book stumbles from what is, presumably, “young author syndrome.”  I define this as a need to overdrive the events of the novel to make the tale spin out as planned.  Note:  some of the best stories don’t go where you expect them to.  “Willing suspension of disbelief” aside, I had to just keep plowing forward when things happened too conveniently or too unrealistically.  Why am I able to accept the supernatural in “Gone” and not take it here?  Because “Gone” is in the Sci-fi/Fantasy genre.  This one purports to be realistic fiction … the reader just has to put “realistic” into lowercase and capitalize the “Fiction” part.  Examples of frustrations include major plot points that are given away very early on and others that simply don’t ever pay off.  In one of the opening chapters, Scotty says “that’s when we started keeping secrets” but it never really leads to anything.  There are no major secrets kept.  Also, in the theme of a bus-driver’s holiday, I struggle with the idea of educators leaving students alone in a school during a major weather event.  Sorry, folks, this would never, never, never happen.  Anyway.  Most students tell me they really like the book, except for the end.  I get it.  First, the climax is too manufactured.  A girl gets upset about … well, I’m still not sure.  It is never explained.  But the author needed there to be a blow-up to create a reason for another character to make a dangerous choice, so there is this big non-event event.  Second, and perhaps more irritating, is that Mr. Northrop does not seem to know the meaning of “denouement” (falling action after the climax).  There is this terrific rush in the last couple of chapters, which ends with “the ending” but no follow-up.  Questions of survival are never fully answered.  No offense, this isn’t “The Giver” and few authors can get away with a relatively open ending like that.  Lastly, Scotty waxing poetic after 200+ pages of talking like a 10^th grader might be chalked up to hypothermia, but it doesn’t ring as true as his earlier ramblings.  All-in-all, a decent book.  Kind of like a week-day dinner – perfunctory more than deliciously satisfying.  On the other hand, we meet the author in a few weeks … so I may have to eat my words …

“Gone” by Michael Grant

Wow.  Plain-out Wow.  “Gone” is the first in a multi-book series about another dystopian universe where teens face brutal realities … but it is really really good.  The best I have read in a bit.  Saw Michael Grant at the National Book Festival, where the apparently stoned organizers decided to put him in the Children’s tent instead of the Teen tent.  He wasn’t five minutes in before parents were grabbing little ones by the wrist and dragging them out.  I laughed myself silly.  An exuberant, engaging speaker, Mr. Grant held nothing back and was true to the gritty nature of his writing.  “Gone” is the story of an ordinary day – which turns quickly “un-ordinary” when all of the adults in the town of Perdido Beach disappear in an instant.  And that’s in the first paragraph.  What follows is a twisting, turning, gut-wrenching series of events and adventures that not only left me ripping through a very large book very quickly, but left me nearly gasping to see “what happens next.”  Science and/or Science Fiction blends with strong religious overtones to make this a tale where the story wraps itself into directions you never see coming.  The characters are diverse and real, with none of them one-dimensional.  The good guy questions himself, the savior of the littlest kids struggles with an eating disorder, the best friend is never clear on where his loyalties lie and the bad guys … well, they are all unique.  A warning – the violence is visceral and this makes the novel (and Mr. Grant’s presentation at the Book Festival?) a “bit much” for more sensitive readers.  Almost every reviewer mentions the similarity here with “Lord of the Flies.”  The survivalist theme amidst competing human struggles for power can’t be denied, but there is such a freshness to this book that it feels like it is happening as you read it.  The teens sound like the kids I interact with every day and jump off the page as someone you seem to know.  Point-of-view careens from one character to another, with a wide spectrum of people coming together in such an achingly slow pace that it sometimes feels like watching a daytime drama.  What will happen to Lana and the hyenas?  Is Caine’s evil plan going to work?  Will Sam return from the power plant in time?  Read the next chapter to find out … or the next …

Spoiler Alert

Yes, it was so good, I want to read the rest.  But on the other hand … this book doesn’t end badly, and Grant alluded to the conclusion of the series in his presentation, indicating that “a lot” of the major characters die.  Don’t think I can take it.  Barely got through this one.  We’ll see if I plow on.