Customer Reviews

Shades of Simon Gray

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

West Nile Virus, plagues of frogs and crows and horrid heat, and a secret cheating ring, all in a quiet little town called Bellehaven, where, 200 years ago, an innocent man named Jessup Wildemere was hanged without a trial.

At the center of all this is Simon Gray, for whom the book is named. At the beginning of the book, Simon crashes his car into the Liberty Tree, where Jessup Wildemere was hung. Was it an accident caused by the frogs all over the road, or a suicide attempt? No one believes it was a suicide attempt, after all, Simon is a "good boy".

Either way, Simon lies in a coma, and his family and the cheating ring to which he, as the hacker, is key, nervously watch as Simon clings to life.

His family includes his sister and his father. His mother died a while back---since then, his sister has begun smoking marijuana to ease the pain, while Simon has kept it all inside, though he sometimes thinks he sees her ghost.

The cheating ring is composed of 3 other people, including Devin, a girl Simon's secretly in love with, and the reason he even decided to help them get test answers off the school database. Unfortunately, Devin is the girlfriend of another one of the people in the cheating ring.

The cheating ring is under suspicion, and police come to Simon's house and take away his computer for investigation.

Meanwhile, Simon, in a coma, experiences an out-of-body experience, during which he talks with Jessup Wildermere. Simon finds out that Jessup is not unlike him, in love with someone who doesn't love him back. Simon finds out what truly happened to Jessup, and is shocked by what he finds.

This book was very touching, a little spooky, and a great peek into the mind of a troubled social outcast and goody-goody. It also really made me think about how often we get the facts wrong, and what permanent effects that can have on people's lives.

Bellehaven. A sleepy little town with a secret that is two hundred years old. In 1798, a young man, Jessup Wildemere, was hanged without a trial for a crime he didn't commit. Now, in the present, 16-year-old Simon Gray has crashed his car into the very same tree that that Jessup was hung on. He is alive, but in a coma, taking with him a secret of his own. He had been bullied into hacking into the school's computer system to procure tests for three older kids. Now the three kids are worried that their secret will be revealed as cops swarm the school, investigating a hacking incident.

While this is going on, Simon, trapped inside his own world, communicates with the long-dead Jessup, and discovers that the man was innocent... And makes some discoveries for himself.

I love this story. I've read it 3 times. It's about choices (good and bad) and the prices we're willing to pay to get what we want. It doesn't offer any easy answers. It asks you to think about the choices made by these characters and the ones you yourself make. The fantasy/horror elements just make the story more enjoyable for me.

I really enjoyed reading this book because there was never a dull moment. It was also a challenge with the constant change of perspective between each of the four main characters. McDonald kept the suspense high throughout the novel, keeping you guessing until the very last page about what might happen next. Many of the events that took place were closely related to my own life as a teenager, because everyday I face the same problems that each of these four students faced while nearing the end of high school and beginning life on their own. This book is directed toward young adults, but would be an awesome book to read at any age, inspiring the young and the old to find truth within themselves.

I just finished Shade of Simon Gray and what a juggling act the author is doing in this one! She's got more balls in the air than you can imagine, with a coma, a crime, a ghost, out of body experiences, guilt, love, and friendship! And she manages to keep all of these balls up and spinning at a dizzying height, so that I was constantly turning the pages for more. When it comes to fiction for teens, J, McDonald nails both the teenage head and heart.If you need to borrow money from someone in the future you should try to get to know J. McDonald because I think she will be sitting pretty when they make this one into a movie. In the meantime enjoy the great read!

The peepers are everywhere, little frogs descending on Bellehaven by the thousands like some early sign of the Apocalypse. As Simon Gray drives home one blisteringly hot night, he squashes millions of them, their blood making the road slick and dangerous. Of course he has an accident --- someone was bound to have one sooner or later. As Simon lies in the hospital in a coma, secrets begin to unfold. Simon was the brain behind a computer hacking operation that enabled Devin, Kyle and Danny to get advance copies of their tests. Before the accident, Simon had done and said things that disturbed his best friend, Liz. Those who didn't know Simon Gray thought he was perfect.

SHADES OF SIMON GRAY is a brilliant combination of mystery, fantasy, history and gritty realism. This is a book that doesn't let up for a minute, pulling the reader in with a fast-paced blend of past and present. Love mysteries? Hate mysteries? It doesn't matter. Simon Gray will intrigue everyone and keep the reader guessing as to what will happen next. There's even an element of the supernatural, with Simon leaving his comatose body to walk through the town, discovering the truth behind a centuries-old murder. Why are the police involved with Simon's accident? What do the strange weather and the sudden appearance of crows have to do with him? None of the pieces add up...or do they?

--- Reviewed by Carlie Kraft

Simon Gray, a high school junior and a computer whiz, has been recruited by three of the senior elite at his high school. All three are concerned about their grades and about getting into good colleges. They need Simon to find a way to get into the school's computer system and get tests in advance. They feel it is the only way they will be able to get to the schools where they want to go. Despite his better judgment, Simon sets up a program to get teachers' passwords and is able to make the idea work.

Now after a very long time of smooth running, something is going wrong. A copy of a test has been found in a school printer, and all of a sudden teachers and the principal are getting suspicious and beginning an investigation of the school computers to find out who could have printed the test. Simon and his friends are worried.

Then one night Simon is out late driving in bad conditions. His car slams head-on at high speed into the Liberty Tree, so named because hundreds of years ago a murderer was hanged from it. After the accident Simon falls into a coma.

While in the coma, Simon has strange encounters, most especially with Jessup Wildemere, the man who was hanged from the tree Simon crashed into. Through conversations with him, Simon comes to realize that the stories told about him are not at all true, but he feels helpless to stop what he knows is going to happen.

Outside, the rest of the world is moving on and the three friends Simon helped cheat on tests are becoming very worried, especially after Simon's home computer is confiscated by the police. They begin to think that perhaps with Simon in a coma and unable to defend himself, they will be able to keep themselves distant and out of trouble. But will Simon wake up and mess up the whole plan?

The Jessup story was really interesting; I liked how it was explored from a historical standpoint and showed that historical events aren't always what they seem. I also liked the idea of the plagues overtaking the town because of an injustice.

I thought, though, that the story of Simon and the story of Jessup should have been more closely connected. Something didn't quite make sense, and it didn't come together in the end. I also thought Devin was an unrealistic character; I found it hard to believe she would make the decision at the end of the book that she made.

This book is uninteresting to the extreme and full of characters who aren't in the least compelling, plotlines that are in no way connected, an ending that does not resolve anything, and poor, flat, heavy handed writing. Its supposed dealings with morality and right and wrong are laughable.

This book was very intriguing at first glance. The story line was very enthralling because it involved multiple different people and their secret reasons as to why they are cheating. Also, it explores why the main character, Simon Gray, was helping the cheaters if he was as good of a boy that he said he was, and as good as everyone else said.

What really killed this book for me was the ending. The ending didn't solve any problems in a satisfying way. The greedy characters got what they wanted, and then the quiet good girl that was always passed over and was just the friend finally had a chance, and he, yet again, passed over her. This ending just begged for another story to if everything, but that story shall never come.

This book was very intriguing at first glance. The story line was very enthralling because it involved multiple different people and their secret reasons as to why they are cheating. Also, it explores why the main character, Simon Gray, was helping the cheaters if he was as good of a boy that he said he was, and as good as everyone else said.

What really killed this book for me was the ending. The ending didn't solve any problems in a satisfying way. The greedy characters got what they wanted, and then the quiet good girl that was always passed over and was just the friend finally had a chance, and he, yet again, passed over her. This ending just begged for another story to if everything, but that story shall never come.