Hope Pierce- The World Made Straight

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   After not liking Caramelo, I optimistically went into this book thinking that I would enjoy it. That was not the case. I was not a fan of The World Made Straight for various reasons, but mostly the darkness of the book as well as the excessive drug usage. Another huge reason that made me dislike the book was the fact that to me it seemed as if the story lacked an actual plot. I honestly have no clue what the main objective of this book was. I understand that it has themes and those are displayed throughout the book, but I didn't see a plot. To me the story just dragged on and on and I could see how someone might say that it follows Travis' life and the discoveries about his past, but he does nothing with this. He does all of this hard work to get his GED. but once he has it, he doesn't want to do anything with it. I think that the only reason he got his GED was so that he could prove something to his father, not because he actually wanted to do something with his life: "If he passed the test, Travis could have pride in something else...The old man might not care about the degree, but he'd have to admire the effort it took" (753-754 I didn't have a hard copy of the book, I used an ebook so my page numbers are different). 
   As I mentioned earlier, I was not a fan of the drug usage in the book. I felt like it took up pretty much the entire novel. I thought that there'd be more depth to the storyline, but all the characters want to do is get high on pills and get drunk off of cheap beer. I understand that Travis is a teenager, and many to experiment, but everybody in this town did drugs and that was what most of the dialog was about. The whole time that I was reading it I kept asking myself if this was really a young adult or adolescent book, because the content was very much mature. The end left me with some hope. Maybe Travis is going in search of a better life, away from drugs and drama. At least I hope so for his sake. 

Comments

  1. StephanieDawkinsOctober 10, 2016 at 8:28 PM

    I too had the same thoughts about Travis's action after he got his GED. I think that he did get his GED to not only prove to his father but too many of the others who were in his life. I questioned whether Lori could be placed in that group.

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  2. StephanieDawkinsOctober 10, 2016 at 8:28 PM

    I too had the same thoughts about Travis's action after he got his GED. I think that he did get his GED to not only prove to his father but too many of the others who were in his life. I questioned whether Lori could be placed in that group.

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