Young Readers
Home Truths
Author Jill MacLean
$14.95 (pb) 978-1-897151-96-9, 278 pp. Dancing Cat Books, September 2010
When it comes down to it, Brick MacAvoy is a bully. He takes pleasure in intimidating younger, weaker boys and he’s a difficult boy to like…until you learn a little more about his own carefully-concealed life, a life that he spends in a constant state of fear, dread and shame. Living with Floyd, his ticking time-bomb of a father, Brick has spent his entire life knowing that nothing he does will ever be good enough to earn Floyd’s praise and that he can never predict what one small thing will trigger his wrath and result in a severe beating. He does his best to shield his four-year-old sister Cassie from Floyd’s violent rages and he counts the days until he’ll be able to take off and leave the humiliation far behind him.
In this latest book Jill MacLean has created a remarkable portrait of a bully, taking readers carefully into his mind and heart. There we see, as he himself does eventually, that the pain he inflicts on others is a way of releasing the pent-up anger that he feels as he suffers beating after beating at his father’s hand. MacLean adroitly captures Brick’s feelings of helplessness, rage and despair, particularly once he realizes that he can’t possibly leave Cassie at their father’s mercy. She also draws attention to the fact that there are no easy answers for Brick: no one can promise him that if he goes to the authorities about Floyd that he and Cassie would then be able to stay together. His options are frighteningly limited, and it is a sad and unfair situation for any fifteen-year- old boy to be in.
While the story does not have a fairytale ending, it does leave readers with hope. Brick has opened up to a few people that he can trust, he has begun to see who and how he wants to be and he has found a way to confront Floyd. Maybe, just maybe that will be enough to see he and Cassie through. This is an intense and sobering look at an all-too-common experience, and an invitation to look beneath the surface of the characters we encounter in our lives. —Lisa Doucet
