Page Count: 320
Published on: September 1, 2007
Published by: HarperTeen
Genre(s): YA, Realistic Fiction, Sports
Source: Print: Hardback - borrowed from Alex
Age Rating: YA
Twitter: @ChrisCrutcher
My Rating: 3.75 - 4 stars
Goodreads synopsis:
Ben Wolf has big things planned for his senior year. Had big things planned. Now what he has is some very bad news and only one year left to make his mark on the world.
How can a pint-sized, smart-ass seventeen-year-old do anything significant in the nowheresville of Trout, Idaho?
First, Ben makes sure that no one else knows what is going on—not his superstar quarterback brother, Cody, not his parents, not his coach, no one. Next, he decides to become the best 127-pound football player Trout High has ever seen; to give his close-minded civics teacher a daily migraine; and to help the local drunk clean up his act.
And then there's Dallas Suzuki. Amazingly perfect, fascinating Dallas Suzuki, who may or may not give Ben the time of day. Really, she's first on the list.
Living with a secret isn't easy, though, and Ben's resolve begins to crumble . . . especially when he realizes that he isn't the only person in Trout with secrets.
~~~
Hey, guys!
My adorable boyfriend lent me his copy of Deadline during our Christmas break before our second semester. Deadline is one of his favorite books, so when he asked me to read it, I was pretty excited to read something that he loved. I'm not a huge sports/YA fiction reader, so this was a new subgenre for me. I really enjoyed the characters for the most part, but there were so many questions that I had that weren't really answered at the end of the book. I suppose that could be a great aspect that people love about the book, but for me, personally, it really bothered me.
I really enjoyed that Ben was a shorter character. I'm 5 foot 2, so it was really fun to read about a character that was noticeably short. Although I enjoyed that aspect of his character, I had a hard time connecting to Ben at all. I thought he was really gutsy and interesting, but he just came off as selfish to me. I really enjoyed Ben's voice as a character, but sometimes I found him to be really annoying and immature. But that's probably because his character was very well written. He was definitely a guy. I mean..obviously he's a guy, but sometimes guys aren't very realistic in YA literature, but Ben was definitely a normal boy...other than the year to live thing...
I really loved Dalla Suzuki's character. She was probably one of my favorite parts of the book. She was so strong and sarcastic. I thought her backstory was really interesting. I can't really reveal much, but she's pretty much a badass...And her name is so cool! I loved it!
I really enjoyed Ben's activism as his story continued. His teacher and his town were so stupidly ignorant of the privilege that they had. They were also very against any kind of change to their agenda. The teacher was so insanely aggravating. I kept messaging Alex about how much I hated him and I think he was laughing at me, but that was the point of his character. I also really enjoyed Ben's research about Malcolm X and the civil rights.
Overall, this was a really good novel about life, death, and truth, but it wasn't my absolute favorite. There were some really nicely written parts that I fully enjoyed, but there were an equal amount of parts that either confused me or I just didn't connect with it. I can see why Alex enjoyed this book, but I think it's more marketed for male readers. I may be wrong, but that's just my take on it.
I look forward to finding a book that Alex and I both enjoy, so stay tuned for that! Alex has a review that will be going up next month, so stay tuned!!!
Happy reading!
Olivia
~LivTheBookNerd~
@LivTheBookNerd on Books
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