What would you do?
What if you had a dream that you knew was within your grasp? A dream that you had nurtured and visualized for yea
rs- and you were right there; right on the edge of making it real. And then suddenly-out of nowhere-you are asked to put your dream on the sideline. Even though you’ve worked so hard for it, for so long-and you deserved it.
You really deserved it.
But things have changed in unforeseen ways. Circumstances beyond your control are now driving your dreams away. Life is not following the plans that you have made.
And not only that, but you are asked to lift up someone else to take the very dream that you had treasured. You are asked to step to the side, and to help someone else to take what you have earned.
What would you do?
It’s a really deep question, isn’t it? I think most people wouldn’t be able to answer such a question without more information. We would need to know why are we being asked to put off our dreams? Who is it that we are stepping aside for? Why should they deserve it more than us?
And, would there be any conditions involved in handing over our dream to someone else? Wouldn’t you be interested if there would be something in it for you? I mean, you should get something out of the deal, right?
This is the beauty of Boy21 by Matthew Quick. As an exceptional work of fiction, Boy21 presents the reader with very compelling, and thought provoking questions. Questions that challenge us to not only think critically, but to also take inventory of our own character traits-heroic and failing traits, all.
The story is told in the first person present tense point of view. The reader becomes very connected to Finley, an aspiring baller from a broken down neighborhood, who has big dreams of becoming his varsity basketball team’s starting point guard.
Finley is a very quiet kid, who prefers to go unnoticed most of the time. He has a tough life in his rough town of Belmont. He finds reprieve with basketball and his girlfriend, Erin, whose outgoing personality is matched by her tremendous basketball skill.
Finley’s basketball coach asks him to take in a new kid in town under his wing. Russ-who goes by, Boy21-proves to be a very difficult person to figure out for Finley. As the story unfolds, you realize why.
Boy21 is not just about foregone dreams. It is also an examination of human brokenness. It provides a wonderful opportunity to explore our own brokenness from a safe distance. This is what great fiction does for us, the readers.
A really enjoyable read, that uses basketball as a tool to venture through some very intense and gripping themes. I felt myself feeling challenged, yet comforted as I read the story. Challenged in the sense that I do not know if I would meet the circumstances the same way that Finley did- with grace and humility. I admired Finley for that. Comforted that human brokenness is something that all of us humans experience in our own unique ways. And I also found myself feeling grateful. Grateful for the good things in life that we are lucky enough to share in during our walk on this earth.
Matthew Quick may sound familiar to you. He wrote a bestselling novel, The Silver Linings Playbook: a Novel, which became a movie. And he did a great job with Boy21. A wonderful read that I would recommend for mature young middle schoolers, or older middle schoolers; Boy21 is definitely one you should check out!
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