Brutal Youth

Brutal Youth
By Anthony Breznican
My rating: ★★★★☆

( I received this book free through Netgalley from the author in exchange for my honest review )

For me this was a hard book to read. Not that it wasn't good, the writing and story telling was top notch. I had a hard time with the bullying. It was constant throughout and for me a little over baring. I had to keep putting the book down just so I wouldn't get depressed, angry, or plan sad.

The school was brutal, jails have more control then that school. And I was angry that the teachers did nothing to stop the hazing, the torment, and the flat out violence that was consuming the halls. They had no sense of pity, or any sense of the danger that they had placed on the new students, nor did they care about the after match. Punishment was pretty much non-existence, how do you keep control if when one breaks the rules nothing is done? You don't.

The parents were no better. Why were there so many bad parents in this book?

The other reason I kept butting this book down, was because there wasn't enough good moments to balance out the bad. Not enough smiles, just not enough.

What actually drew me in and what kept me reading, was the background info on the side characters (the teacher and parents). We get to see inside their lives, and we got a look into their own personal demons. Not saying that their past pain is any excuse for them to fail, to do anything for the kids, but, it does give you a better understanding as to why they were that way. Some of the stories were heart breaking and depressing. Others were simply a lake of never getting over themselves and not moving on.

For the min characters, they were okay, to me I didn't have favourite, but I do have those I don't like; on grounds that they simply brought things in themselves. I don't want to get too much into that, because it will give away and may spoil the story for future readers.

The opening, now that's what you call exploding out of the gate. It set the tone, the stage for what was to come out of this book. Simply put, if you didn't like the beginning then you'll probably not like the rest of the book, because in all honestly, the beginning is simply the tip of the Iceberg.

I highly recommend this book, it's a in-depth look into the world of hazing, bullying and the reality that this does happened and, as much as we want to deny it, people do look the other way and call it, harmless fun. This is a deep story about survival, human nature and the struggle to try to do the right thing, when the right thing isn't a simple, as black and white.

I would like to thank Anthony Breznican for letting me experience this hard world that isn't far from reality.

Happy Reading

-Emily