Every so often a reader comes across a book that changes them forever. It alters their lives so that they are just a little bit different after reading that book, and it is bound to become one of their life long favorites.



Today, this book was added to that list for me.



Stephen Wetta's debut novel about a boy growing up in the tumultuous South during the sixties is not only touching, but an experience for anyone reading it who's ever been thirteen and confused about who they are. Jack Witcher does

Every so often a reader comes across a book that changes them forever. It alters their lives so that they are just a little bit different after reading that book, and it is bound to become one of their life long favorites.



Today, this book was added to that list for me.



Stephen Wetta's debut novel about a boy growing up in the tumultuous South during the sixties is not only touching, but an experience for anyone reading it who's ever been thirteen and confused about who they are. Jack Witcher doesn't know how to deal with the fact that his brother may be a murderer, that the whole neighborhood and thinks his family is trash, and that he has just fallen in love for the first time with a girl named Myra (oh, and she just happens to be the sister of the boy his brother may have murdered).



The novel touches on many issues. First of all, Jack is forced to deal with loss of innocence. Like anyone at that age, he has begun to see the world as it truly is, and that the world is not all good. He begins to understand that he will always be looked down upon in his neighborhood because his father isn't an educated man. He doesn't have a steady job. His mother is a quiet woman. And his brother has been a bully since his days in kindergarten. The neighbors will never think well of him, but Jack wonders if this is fair. He isn't like his father, his mother or his brother. He's smart and courteous, but he'll forever be known as one of the Witcher boys because of blood relation alone.



Not that being a Witcher is necessarily a bad thing. Wetta raises the question of whether or not the Witchers really are the trash that the neighborhood thinks them to be, or if they are just a product of the society they've been put in. If they weren't so looked down upon, would Stan Witcher be such a bully? Would Jack Witcher have to fight to date Myra, a girl far above his social station? Would Mr. Witcher be able to control his temper and keep a steady job if the world wasn't already setting him up to fail? There are so many questions to be answered, and it leaves the reader wondering who should be looking down upon who. Social status doesn't determine the goodness in people, and Wetta makes that very clear.



And what about race? Does that determine the goodness in people? Are all the white folks good and the blacks living in the next neighborhood over bad? The Witchers aren't a racist family, but is it a coincidence that when Mr. Witcher is contemplating robbing a jewelry store that he enlists the help of a black man? Is it okay that Mr. Pudding, an accepted and well liked member of the community is a member of the KKK? When you get past the realizations about social status, you realize the same truth applies to race. People shy away from Mr. Gladstein because he's Jewish, but he's one of the more lovable characters in the book. Snead is a nice enough guy, but because he is black he is of course looked down upon by everyone. Jack has to learn to see past race here too, realizing he can't change the minds of everyone but that he doesn't have to be a racist himself.



And what about first love? In a somewhat Romeo & Juliet-esque story, Jack falls in love with Myra Joyner, a girl who he couldn't possibly be with but wins over because he is really just as good as she is, no matter what anyone in the neighborhood might think. But is there really a way to be together when you are so young and so many obstacles stand in your way?



I could go on and on, but to sum up, this is an absolutely fantastic debut for the author and I look forward to the possibility of more work from him in the future.