Deadline by Chris Crutcher

Audience: High School (mature content)

Rating: A-

Synopsis:

Ben Wolf feels like he’s ready to outgrown his small town of Trout, Idaho. He can’t wait until he’s finished his senior year and is out in the world. But in this important year Ben learns that there’s more to his small town than meets the eye; many of his classmates and neighbors carry terrible secrets. Ben understands this lesson all too well, he’s got the biggest secret of all and he’s determined not to let anyone find out. Ben’s just learned that there will be no next year for him; he’s dying of a terminal illness and this year will be his last.

Chatter:

(Spoiler Alerts! ) I did not expect this book to be as gritty and emotional as it was. The first chapter was light-hearted… or at least as lighthearted as it could be when Ben finds out he’s dying. But he handles it rather calmly and I thought that it was going to more of a comedic book. Once Ben starts being successful at football, I thought it would be a triumphant book; I hoped he’d win the championship, finish his project, win the girl, save Rudy, and beat the odds and survive to speak at graduation. Ben doesn’t accomplish any of these, but that doesn’t make him a failure. He accomplished so much more in his school year than a lot of people do in a lifetime. As much as I’m a sucker for a tidy happy ending, I was glad that Crutcher didn’t sell out and make the book less realistic by providing one.

With the main plot being our hero facing his own mortality, you wouldn’t think there’d be a need for as many dark subplots, but Dallas and Rudy’s past, Ben’s parents, Sooner’s dad, Coach’s girlfriend, and Mr. Lambeer’s pigheadedness add many layers of reality and complexity to the plot. These characters were real because they had problems. They weren’t one-dimensional props created to help Ben through his time of need; in fact, with the exception of Coach and Cody, they add more problems.

Cody was my favorite character in this book. He was such a good brother, friend, son. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him, because he’s the one that was left behind, and now he has to handle all of the burdens by himself. I thought it was great that he and Dallas were running together at the end, but I hope Cody doesn’t take Ben’s place as the person who takes on everyone else’s burdens.

Questions:

What will happen to Dallas or Cody next year?

How should the town memorialize Sooner?

What was the biggest lesson that Ben taught to those he loved?

What would you do if you only had one year left to live?

Keep reading!

-Paige

Buy Deadling from Amazon