Walking on Glass [Hardcover]

Alma Fullerton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2007

Your mother's suicide attempt has left her in a coma from which she's never waking up. You know that she wouldn't want to live like this, but could you really help her die? Here you are, making the hardest decision of your life and there's no one to help you: Your father has disappeared into depression. Your best friend is becoming someone you no longer want to know. There is a girl who could help, maybe, if you'd let her. But in the end, it's all up to you.

A free-verse novel from debut author Alma Fullerton plunges deep inside the psyche of a young man faced with a life-and-death decision.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—In diary form, with minimal free verse, Fullerton tells the story of a young man's struggle to cope with his mother's suicide attempt, which has left her on life support. The framework is that he is writing a journal for the therapist he is seeing. From the beginning, teens will be drawn into the unnamed narrator's turmoil and experience the roller coaster of emotions—guilt, anger, love, anxiety—right along with him. Fullerton deals with the very challenging topic of euthanasia in a sensitive and respectful manner. She elicits empathy for the teen coming to grips with a father overwhelmed by the situation and slowly taking responsibility for his own actions. This is a quick yet powerful read with an authentic teen voice. Recommend books written by Sonya Sones, such as Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy (HarperCollins, 1999), to readers who ask for more.—Sheilah Kosco, Bastrop Public Library, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

A young man's mother lies in a coma in a hospital ward. Should the tubes be disconnected? Would that be murder, or would it be setting her free? His dad says he cannot let her go. In spare, fast-moving, very simple free verse, the teen's journal entries evoke the boy's guilt, anger, and love. It's gradually revealed that the mother attempted suicide; the psychiatrist says she was depressed and would not take her medications. Is her son to blame? Is it guilt that makes him break with his brutal gang leader, as his mother always wanted him to do? The tension builds as the boy gradually confronts the horrifying memory of what happened when he found her and his own feelings. The complex, contemporary debate is always in the background, and what the boy decides is the climax of the story. This small book will take barely an hour to read, but the moral issues it raises are haunting. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 131 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen (January 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060778512
• ISBN-13: 978-0060778514
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,280,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in a large military family. Was born in Ontario Canada then moved to British Columbia when I was 12. Traveled to Europe after graduating.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars POWERFUL & POETIC!, February 12, 2007

By 

Linda Joy Singleton "Linda Joy Singleton" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking on Glass (Hardcover)

WALKING ON GLASS, although a short book, is a powerful and beautifully written novel that will linger in reader's mind long after the dramatic last page. This is a story about a teen walking the dangerous edge of life and death decisions. Should he join a gang? Should he pull the plug to end his mother's life? Each powerful sentence is a small piece of a puzzle that slowly unfolds.

WALKING ON GLASS is sad, bold and brilliant. It would make a great read-aloud in middle schools/high schools for discussions about gangs, friendship, families and the traumatic issue of euthanasia.

Teachers, librarians, parents, teens -- do NOT miss this amazing book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Short but haunting..., September 2, 2009

By 

Denise Crawford "DC" (Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Walking on Glass (Hardcover)

Teens looking for a quick, superficial read should NOT pick up this book.

Although it is short, only 131 sparse pages of free verse, the depth and range of emotion expressed by the main character is heartrending and poignant. The theme of the book is about being caged -- by dreams, by choices, and by circumstance.

I actually read through this book several times -- it doesn't take long as there is really not much on the pages. It's only when I stopped to think about it that I started having questions.

Our unnamed narrator tells the story of the day he came home to find his mother swinging from the chandelier, broken glass all around. Nearly dead, she is rushed to the hospital where she lies day after day on life support. Meanwhile, the young man tries to go to school and continue on with his life though he feels trapped by his mother's suicide attempt and his father's inability to deal with the situation. He starts to question whether turning off the machines that keep her heart pumping is really murder, and he analyzes how he missed the important clues and ignored the needs she had even as he mourns her loss. For a moment I wondered if there was the best friend Jack mentioned in the novel -- or was Jack really our narrator -- used to convey behaviors and thoughts that our narrator was too frightened or embarassed or ashamed to admit to.

The tale left a lot more questions than it answered. Resolution was not simple. The reader is left wondering, "what would I do?"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, May 30, 2007

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking on Glass (Hardcover)

A mother on life-support. A father who keeps pretending that his wife will get better. A young man, torn between doing what is right and taking the easier path of least resistance.

Alma Fullerton paints the story of one family's turmoil in WALKING ON GLASS, a short tale told in free verse. When one teen arrives home one day in June, he finds his mother near death after an attempted suicide. Although he saves her life, the only thing keeping her tethered to this world are the wires and equipment forcing her to take each breath as she lies in a hospital bed.

"Mom's mood swings always coincided with whatever Dad and I did.

Up and down.

Up and down.

Pulling our strings, like big yo-yos.

And even now, when she can't move or talk, she's still pulling those strings."

As the teen's father lives in a world of denial, as the teen himself realizes that his best friend's life of crime and anger is beginning to rub off on him, he realizes that if there is ever to be an end to the torment he suffers, the decision will have to be his alone. As he struggles to learn why his mother wanted to die, as he rages with anger over his father's lack of acceptance, and as he faces the knowledge that life will never be the same, we fight the fight right along with him.

Ms. Fullerton has written a heartrending, emotional story that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"