Book covers matter. The cover of The Honest Truth caught me
big time, and I read the YA novel from that visual start. My mind images
cratered through as I read, reminding me of separation, survival, and the dire
questions our lives force us to answer.
Mark and his dog set out on a journey. Taking few things
with them and leaving one or two notes behind, Mark figures this will be the
last time he sees his home, family, and friend who is a girl. Mark has outlasted
death a few times, and now his sickness is winning. Mark figures out how to
outsmart most people as he escapes to Mt. Rainier where he has decided to die,
but he didn’t count on how others might respond.
This is Dan Gemeinhart’s first book, and I really enjoyed
his writing style. It was clean and deep. I can’t imagine what it is like to
always be sick as a child, to always need medicine, to always need doctors, and
to always need others. The main character who tells his own story gives voice
to that part of at least one young teen who called enough and tried to get out
of his own life. It just didn’t all go the way he planned. The cover caught me first, but his story kept me with him the whole way.
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