Author: Sharon G Flake
Publisher: Scholastic
Rating: WORTHY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review.
This is a story of a relationship between your stereotypical high school jock and the hot member of the opposite sex, but in this case, the jock is the girl, and the hot opposite sex character is a guy in a wheelchair. In significant ways, both are handicapped, but the guy isn't handicapped by his wheelchair, he's handicapped by his personality. The girl is handicapped by short-sightedness, and not of the physical kind, either.
It seems that I'm forced into commenting on a completely inappropriate cover once more. Yet again, the cover illustrator appears never to have read the novel, either that or didn't give a damn, because because if he or she had read it or cared about it, they would have noticed that Autumn is a wrestler who has muscles. She's not a muscle-bound type as such, but she does have muscles and definition, and the cover model was so not her it wasn't even funny. This is a pitfall of going with Big Publishing™: they simply do not care, unless it's about how many corners they can cut on their way to how much moo-la they can milk from your novel.
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This novel is all about Autumn Knight and Adonis Einstein Anderson Miller. I am not kidding you with the names. I think there's a scientific study and an interesting paper to be published about the use of exotic names in the African American community if it's tied-in with how that particular group has been treated over the years since Africa was "discovered" by the so-called civilized world, but this is merely a book review, so names aside, let me say up front that despite some issues, I loved this novel.
I am not black, so I don't doubt for a minute that I may well be missing some insights here which color (so to speak!) my perspective, but the bottom line is that this is purely a novel about two people who have a relationship. Race, creed, ethnicity, etc., doesn't enter into it, so that should never be an issue with regard to the validity of any given reviewer's take on it. I mean a story is either worth the reading or it's not, right, regardless of the actual content or the characters? This one was worth it.
It's a really short and easy book to listen to (and presumably to read). The short chapters alternate between Autumn's PoV and Adonis's, both told in first person. My problem was that I listened to it as an audio book rather than read it, and while I felt that Autumn's voice was nailed all the way to the bone by Bahni Turpin, Adonis's voice was ruined by Dominic Hoffman. He sounded far more like a high school teacher than ever he did a high school student. This definitely shaded my view of this novel because this character had no credibility for me.
Worse than that, Adonis was presented, in the writing itself, as a snotty, superior, self-centered, and arrogant jerk. He had no redeeming qualities that I could see, and not only did I not like him, I could find no reason at all why someone like Autumn would like him, let alone claim to be in love with him and follow him around like a timid puppy. This, for me, stole ruthlessly from her role as a strong female character, and I could not for the life of me figure out why Sharon Flake would do this to her. I do, however, want to read more of this author's writing after enjoying this, which is why I moved on to The Skin I'm In. The author's name may be Flake, but she's no flake when it comes to writing chops.
I fell in love with Autumn Knight, not just the beautiful name, but also with her voice and her attitude, and with her perspective. She is a strong woman, and not just physically. She was always up (apart from one understandable instance of complete despair), positive, and confident. She's adaptable and motivated, and has plans for her future. That's why I was thoroughly intrigued by the stark contrast between this (what might be thought of as her baseline personality) and her complete lack of motivation when it came to her 'disability' - which is that she was a very poor reader.
This in itself would not be a problem if she'd maintained her usual positive attitude towards it - and towards fixing it, but with this particular issue, there was a huge disconnect. She was in sorry denial about the utility of reading, which made me even more curious to find out how this story panned out. Autumn's ambition, despite her wrestling cred (yes, I said wrestling - how cool is that?) is to open a restaurant, yet no one, not even her teachers, seem to put two and two together and seek to motivate her by reminding her that her restaurant ambitions are going to be deep fried if she doesn't learn to read a whole lot better than she can manage right now.
What bothered me about Autumn was her stalking of Adonis. If this had been reversed, with Adonis behaving as Autumn did, and vice-versa, I think a lot of people would have had issues with his stalking her, especially if she were in a wheelchair. So why wasn't this an issue presented the way it was? Gender equality cuts both ways: it's not just a benefit for women, it's also a responsibility. This 'what's sass for the goose is sauce for the gander' approach wasn't appreciated. What did shave-off the rough edges of it for me was that Autumn's personality was sweeter than honey, but make no mistake: her behavior was still stalking.
I'm not one of these reviewers who demands character growth in a story. Indeed, some of the best stories are about people who refuse to grow or to change for one reason or another. Adonis's lack of growth was as much a part of his character as was his arrogance and perfectionism. He was bound far more by that then ever he was by his wheelchair. I like to think that this story wasn't really about him, but was about Autumn, and for those who demand it, she did change admirably.
So I recommend this novel. It was fun, endearing, and enjoyable - at least the Autumn chapters were. Who cares about Adonis?!
