Customer Reviews

Trigger

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Frog farts.

Santa. Shoelaces. Elana Arroyo.

All these words are a jumble in Jersey Hatch's head.

HOUSE IS FINE MORON QUIT ASKING.

He has to remind himself to do the things that you and I take for granted, like thinking before speaking, and climbing a flight of stairs, or not constantly asking aloud if his parents' house is all right.

He didn't always have to do this. He didn't always need an aide at school, and he used to have a best friend, Todd, and decent grades and a place on the football and golf teams.

That was before he shot himself in the head.

Since the shooting, Jersey has lost all of his recent memory. He doesn't remember any of his 15th year and only recalls a portion of his 16th, the portion not spent in a coma, on a ventilator. Now, just turned 17, he is home from the hospital with three very deep scars and a thousand questions. The most frustrating question, the one neither he nor anyone else can answer, is: Why did you shoot yourself? To answer this question, Jersey will have to go through his book of memories and visit with one of the only people who never gave up on him: Mama Rush, his best friend's wise, sometimes curmudgeonly grandmother.

Mama Rush isn't going to make anything easy for Jersey, though. In order to find the answer to the question of why he shot himself, Jersey will have to make seemingly farfetched lists of possible reasons, contact people who would ridicule him, and try to communicate through the seemingly random words that infiltrate his speech. And the one person who might have the key to Jersey's discovery, his former best friend Todd, wants nothing to do with him.

If you liked THE BURN JOURNALS by Brent Runyon, then you'll be fascinated by Jersey's "upward and outward" climb towards memory and recovery. Like Brent, Jersey will never make a full physical recovery, but in his journey towards learning the answers he needs to fill in the empty spaces in his memory, he finds strange new friendships and unexpected alliances. To come to an understanding with himself, his family and his former friends, he will have to take small steps, speak one word at a time, and do his best not to give up when the words become clutter and his curiosity about the shooting makes him do and say irrational things.

Jersey's recovery won't be easy for anyone he is or was close to. And he will find out quickly not only who cares about him, but how.

--- Reviewed by Carlie Webber.

Seventeen-year-old Jersey Hatch cannot remember that day in his bedroom with his father's gun, and no amount of questioning from family, friends, or therapists can change that. Why did he do it? He wishes he could answer that question, but if he cannot even remember the actual act of shooting himself in the head, how can he be expected to remember why he decided to do it in the first place? Only through a painful search for answers can Jersey discover exactly what happened and why.

The fact that he lived is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, there is the simple fact that he is alive--a blessing, technically. But after one shoots himself in the head, life cannot ever return to "normal," whatever that may have been. Not only does he have to relearn everything in his life and deal with the fact that his body will never again work as it did before he pulled the trigger, he has to repair relationships. His dad is constantly hovering over him with that fake smile and a bowl of oatmeal; his mother rarely makes a sound; his best friend, Todd, wants nothing to do with him; and the authorities at school seem to wish he was anywhere but on their campus. Can all of these problems really be fallout from his mistake? He was the one who got shot, after all, so how can so many people be so affected by a single error in his judgment? These are questions for which Jersey knows he must find answers in order to find peace.

Author Susan Vaught is a neuropsychologist who works mainly with young people with head trauma. Through her words, the reader experiences the reality of a failed suicide--the frustration of the individual, the ambivalence of his parents, the fury that erupts within the caretaker household, the curiosity of outsiders, and, ultimately, the decision that can only be made by Jersey: rebuild his life or finish the job?

Reviewed by: Mechele R. Dillard

I love this book and my thirteen-year-old daughter loves it as well.
It's a positive book and a very nice read for all ages.
I've enjoyed every line of it and I am recommending it to friends.
NH is reading "Fahrenheit 541" and I was asked if I could save only one book ( not counting religious books) which would it be?
"Trigger" was the first book that came to my mind.
Enjoy!

Trigger begins as teenager Jersey Hatch is preparing to leave rehab, a year after, so people tell him, he shot himself in the head. Jersey doesn't remember shooting himself, nor does he remember the year leading up to the shooting, but he knows that he and the people around him have been scarred by it. His father is damaged, though a solid, supportive, presence. Jersey's mother isn't coping as well. His parents' marriage is on shaky ground. Jersey's former friends haven't been to see him, and he knows that his lifelong best friend, Todd, can't stand him anymore.

The only people who treat Jersey with any degree of normalcy are Todd's younger sister, Leza, and Leza and Todd's grandmother, Mama Rush. Mama Rush and Leza both try to help Jersey figure out why he shot himself, a mystery that seems to involve Todd, and/or a former girlfriend. The suspense of Jersey's quest for understanding is mixed with scenes depicting his re-adjustment to home and school.

Jersey is physically and mentally disabled, with limited use of his left arm and leg, patchy short term memory, and difficulty controlling his words. Trigger is told in Jersey's first-person voice (as his thoughts, not as something structured that he's written down). Jersey's thought patterns are scattered, and he frequently obsesses on particular words or ideas. He can't keep from blurting out words that are on his mind, often at inappropriate times. It's a fascinating window into what it might be like for an otherwise intelligent person to learn to live with brain damage, and an utterly unique voice for a novel. Here are a couple of examples:

"Pay the driver. Pay the driver. I could do easy math. I could count change and money and stuff. If I remembered to pay the driver. If I walked off and forgot, he'd call the police and send me to jail. Pay the driver. I clung to my memory book and the bills Mom had given me. The plastic bag with Mama Rush's presents felt heavy on my weak wrist. Don't forget to pay the driver. Jail. Don't forget to keep enough money to get home. Jail. Don't forget to pay the driver." (page 44)

"I put my memory book down on the first step and climbed up as carefully as I could. My headache made the hall seem too long, but I ignored that. That was imagining. Halls didn't get longer and shorter. The noon sunlight came out of rooms in weird ways, making patterns on the floor. I walked across the patterns. The gold in my shoelaces glittered." (page 221)

Author Susan Vaught is a full-time neuropsychologist, and I think that her background brings a particular authenticity to Jersey's problems. Her jacket flap bio says that she "has helped many patients with difficulties like Jersey's. The words and struggles of her adolescent patients often occupy her mind and inspire her creativity."

Although the general topic of Trigger is dark, Jersey's inappropriate phrases add some mild comic relief. A favorite phrase that becomes a bit of a catchword, for instance, is "frog farts". Mama Rush also adds some humor, though she represents wisdom, too. She's a wonderful character, this chain-smoking old black woman on a purple scooter who accepts no nonsense from anyone, and is unphased by Jersey's differences.

Jersey is the ultimate unreliable narrator. By surviving his suicide attempt, he ends up in the unusual position of seeing first-hand the damage that he has wrought. His memory loss, and his quest to understand why he did what he did, work well at keeping his problems at a distance. Jersey doesn't understand any more than anyone else does why he would shoot himself in the head. This bafflement makes the book bearable, even suspenseful, for the reader, in a way that a straightforward account of "here's why I wanted to kill myself" might not. In some ways, Trigger is a hopeful book, too. Despite some major flaws, and some bouts with despair, Jersey wants to fix things. He wants to "glue" his broken mother back together, to make amends to people, and to figure out how to live his life now.

Trigger doesn't feel like a "message" book at all, because Jersey is a such a strong, immediate character. However, there clearly is a message to the book, a message about the damage that a teen can do to other people by committing suicide. The book also gives voice to people who have physical and mental difficulties. This is a compelling book about a serious issue, written in an unforgettable voice. I recommend Trigger for high-school students, boys or girls, though I would hesitate to give it to middle schoolers. The book also contains an end section outlining suicide warning signs, steps to take, and listing resources for help. Additional resources are available from the author's website.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on July 2, 2007.

Susan Vaught has the credentials to write about a brain-damaged teenager (she's a neuropsychologist). But she brings so much more than a clinical study to this book. It's a mystery, a coming-of-age story, and a quest tale all at once.

When you know the story--a teenager struggles to adjust to his new life and to remember his old life after an attempted suicide--it's hard to imagine that TRIGGER could be humorous, but it's often laugh-out-loud funny. The characters are individual, the high school setting is real, and the story is gripping. Jersey Hatch is a character who will stay with you for a long, long time.

Why did Jersey try to kill himself? You won't find out until you read to the end of this engrossing story. You won't mind, however, as you slowly follow the events of Jersey's life before and after he acquires a brain injury from a self-inflicted gun shot. My only complaint is that I fear readers may come away with a distorted view of brain injury. Vaught, a practicing neuropsychologist who works with brain injury survivors, has given Jersey some less common symptoms, such as his hearing voices and spitting out words uncontrollably, more like someone with Tourette Syndrome. But this is a minor complaint. Also, while this book is intended for young adults, anyone looking for a good mystery will enjoy this well-crafted story.

Summary:
The story opens with a teenager being released from a rehab center. In the past two years he has been in 5 hospitals because two years ago, he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He is now home, away from the protected environment of the rehab center. His father, a probation officer, is making attempts to be supportive. His mother has fallen apart and has little to say to him. His best friend is angry and never visited him in the hospitals. He needs to figure out WHY he shot himself. He needs to figure out what kind of person he was BEFORE he shot himself. Jersey Hatch is now two people....the one BEFORE and the one AFTER. He has a good friend in a retired counselor and former next door neighbor. She is helping him think through his questions. His other friend is the younger sister of his (former) best friend.
Questions I had while reading
1. How arrogant of an individual was he before the shooting?
2. How soon will he be able to see a therapist who is a head injury specialist? (the appointment is 6 months away)
3. Who was the girl? Why did she move away 6 months ago?
4. Why is his mother not saying much beyond ...."you are so lucky."
5. Why didn't the high school help him re-enter school life? The day he returned, the entire school had an assembly with therapists to deal with his shooting....but no one told him about this. No one at home told him about this, but they knew.
6. Why, five years ago, were there other suicide attempts after his?
7. How arrogant of an individual was he BEFORE the accident?
8. He was a star football player, on the golf team and a member of ROTC. What went so wrong?

The author has done a very sensitive and thought provoking job of describing a brain injured teen who just wants to make sense of the world around him and the world he knew that he didn't want to live through. This would make an excellent read for a teacher book group. The teachers do NOT come of as very sensitive. The book group could analyze how this kid would be treated at their school. Ah amazing book!

This is a very moving story. I had to read it twice. I wanted to scream WHY? Talk to people, but make sure you LISTEN. Sometimes you have to really strain to LISTEN. You just might be able to give a little help or guidance to someone that needs it.

We first meet Jersey Hatch on the day he comes home after a year in the hospital. Jersey tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head. Not only does he not remember pulling the trigger, but he has also forgotten the year leading up to the event. Jersey, who had once been a star athlete and honor student, now struggles with physical and mental difficulties. His old friends shun him and his parents don't want to talk about anything important, lest they upset him.

With the help of the outspoken, no-nonsense Mama Rush and her granddaughter, Leza, Jersey sets out to unravel the mystery of Before to discover why he tried to kill himself. Finally, he is left with a choice that no one can make for him. Is it better to end it all or to go on living in the hope that life will get better?

This is not a happy book or an easy one to read, but it is absolutely stunning. And so realistic that I felt like I was inside Jersey's damaged head. If you're a teen, or if you've ever been one, read this book. Frog farts! Hoochie mama!

Trigger is a wonderfully unique tale-- a psychological journey and mystery told in a vivid and unusual voice. After a traumatic brain injury from a bullet, teenage Jersey is on a mission to figure out the circumstances that led to the gunshot to his head. The story holds you enthralled as Jersey uncovers clues about who he was before-- and ultimately, tries to figure out who he is now.

The author, Susan Vaught, is a neuropsychologist who obviously has a deep understanding of the narrator's complex feelings. I felt that I was completely inside Jersey's head as I read this. Reading this book is a fascinating experience-- it really made me empathize with people who have injuries like Jersey's, and feel the frustration of having your mind and body partly out of your control. I have tremendous respect for Vaught's ability to capture this experience and weave it into an engaging mystery with humor and tenderness. A must-read!