Customer Reviews

Breaking Boxes

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book, by A.M Jenkins, could have an incredible affect on your heart. The plot, while it is somewhat predictable, has interesting twists and turns. This book is very realistic about what happens in it.. The main character is sixteen year old Charlie Calmont. His parents are gone, his father left the family and his mother drank herself to death. He lives in a poor neighboorhood with his down to earth brother, Trent. Everything's fine in Charlie's world until some rich boys at school make fun of him and he lashes out at them. Only one of the boys who harassed him is punished, Brandon Chase, the class leader. Brandon and Charlie get to know each other while they are punished at school. Then Brandon offers him a ride home in his Corvette. Their friendship comes quickly after that. Brandon tells Charlie that he is a real person in a world of fakes, and Charlie feels that Brandon is not who he seems to be, and that Brandon is trapped in a bad nightmare. Eventually, Charlie feels close enough to Brandon to reveal his biggest secret about Trent to him. Brandon has a bad reaction and the whole school knows about Charlie's secret. With this Charlie tells himself he will never let someone get close to him ever again. One last fight brings the boys back together again, and helps Charlie to admit that he really does care about things. Charlie's story is in a voice that most teens can understand. Yet, Charlie is someone to care for. This novel tells with clarity the risk of opening up to others.

Breaking Boxes clearly brakes the traditional barrier in teenage readings. It effectively deals with contemporary issues incl. alcoholism, domestic violence and homosexuality that are often avoided or dealt relunctantly in young adult literature. AM Jenkins's potrayal of the characters are all thorough and emotionally touching. It's an excellent reading for both young adults and adults alike.

Personally I would include Breaking Boxes as one of my old-time favorites.

Progress doesn't always come in enormous leaps and bounds, and it comes harder for some than others. By the conclusion of 'Breaking Boxes,' protagonist Charlie Calmont has made progress- in some small, cautious but positive steps. The novel may strike some people as bleak because it doesn't compromise in portraying the world of its characters in honest terms. Young adult readers could use more, not fewer, works of the quality of 'Breaking Boxes.' If you want a fun, moving, candid novel about the struggles of being open and trusting both to oneself and others, 'Breaking Boxes' is right for you. If you want empty moralizing, look elsewhere.

I really loved this book a lot. The reason I liked it so much is I could relate to the characters because a similar thing that happened to Charlie Calmont, happened to me. I think this book is very realistic, and while it displays the everyday issues teens have to deal with, it also shows how two different people (or so it seems) could have so much in common and end up being friends. I also really liked the ending.

Charlie is such a wonderful character -- he reminds me so much of what it was like to be a teenage boy, while at the same time he is so complex and interesting...a study in contrasts at times, which makes him so more real for the reader. I like the way he gathers his inner resources to cope with challenges on his own....I know YA books these days are supposed to provide the reader with everything right down to 1-800 helplines -- but this book is much more realistic than that, which is one reason it is so good. Because so often in life there IS no help that is readily available or even apparent, and it is through dealing with these challenges that a person's inner strength is grown and matured.

I am astonished at A.M. Jenkins's ability -- especially as a first-time author -- to get into this character's head so perfectly. I also love the interplay between Charlie, his brother Trent, and Charlie's new friend, Chase. An emotional, satisfying read!

So many of the teen stories of today are from the female's point of view and it is nice to see one from the male point. I liked this story because I thought it was typical of the way that the "popular" kids treat others who might not be as fortunate as they are. I liked the book and would recommend it to anyone.

This story is an uncompromising view of teen lives. It examines the expansive role of peer pressure and how it forces young people to trivialize major life experiences and choices. The characters engage in casual sex, alcohol consumption, vicious behavior toward each other just to win acceptance, and yet the book manages to make their participation seem effortless and at the same time lets us see how uncomfortable they really are with the choices they make. One wonders if the age of the reader plays a role in the impact of this book; this novel's abrupt ending and under-developed subplot made the story all the more painful and left this 39 year-old reader unable to let the characters go long after the book was finished.

A. M. Jenkins' handling of tough issues such as homosexuality, alcoholism, and parental abandonment in her Delacorte winning novel, Breaking Boxes, makes this a book well worth reading. Dealing with such difficult subjects could easily result in a dark novel, but by weaving in redeeming messages of hope and friendship, Jenkins creates a compelling novel that kids will appreciate for its candor.

Breaking Boxes is a very touching story that I think many teens can relate to. In this book you get introduced to Charlie Calmont, and his older brother Trent. They live in a poor section of town, but that's alright with Charlie because he's never really had many friends. Then, at school the rich kids start picking on him, he ends up getting into a fight and is sent to the office. He and Brandon, who was also in the fight, get in school suspension. Before either one realizes what is happening they become friends. Charlie gets a little experience about the world Brandon has to live in and vice versa. Brandon starts to give him rides in his silver Corvette and never stops to ask questions when Charlie waves at this little blonde kid on the corner of his block. He and Brandon become close enough that Charlie reveals his deepest secret about Trent to him, and Brandon turns away. One last fight at school brings them back together again, and makes Charlie realize that he does actually care about things.

I thought it was nice, and only nice, mind you. It wasn't that the writing was bad. Heaven's no- the writing was brilliant, for god's sake, that was the best part! However, the book beside the writing- meaning the plot, the charactors, the setting- was a little on the boring side for my taste and I'm only saying that because the book is somewhat long and yet nothing really interesting happens, but don't let something silly like that stop you from reading it.