This is a rather sweet Y/A novel with a heartwarming message about the developmentally disabled. The author clearly knows what she's talking about and describes different types of people with different challenges quite convincingly. It's about two young people, Emily and Lucas, one a nerd and the other an athlete, who see a fellow student who happens to have challenges being sexually assaulted by a fellow student -- and fail to come to her aid or raise the alarm. Their brains freeze, they say. The book is half narrated by the victim of the assault, Belinda, and half by Emily, the brainy girl who failed to do the right thing even though she burns with a general desire to help the disadvantaged -- as long as they are a generic group and not actual individuals.
As punishment, the two miscreants are assigned community service. They have to help out with a group that meets weekly to discuss socially-acceptable ways to behave and tries to teach the students strategies and ways to relate romantically to others -- which can be difficult for this population. The two overcome their prejudices toward each other as well as toward those they are helping and also learn something valuable about courage and honesty from Belinda.
There are aspects of this book that are a bit too cutesy and the author also weighs it down with too many subplots -- as if to tackle every social issue and ill there is in one book. So we explore gay identity, cancer, old age, losing a parent, the nature of true friendship -- it's all there. These topics threaten to overwhelm the story -- and the sweet developing love between Emily and the brawny football player Lucas. But at the end of the day, the story does carry through -- and the central message of the book as well.
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Customer reviews
This book contained a powerful message, but failed in the execution
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2015
I was really intrigued by the message this book was trying to convey. The tagline, "Sometimes, the worst thing you can do, is nothing at all " got me hooked - and is actually a really powerful quote if you think about it further - and all I wanted to know by reading this book is whether the book lived up to its potential and promise or not.Emily is a high school activist. She speaks up for things, and she is a smart, respected and a decently popular girl in her school. So when she comes across a guy trying to rape a girl with developmental disability in a football match you would expect her to help her, right? Shout, call for help or do something to stop the crime from happening.But she doesn't.Nor does Lucas, a foot ball player who was at the same place at the same time. Both of them try to make up excuses for their hesitation, their mistake and the huge blunder they made which could've ruined a girl's life. But in the end, they do understand their guilt, and A Step Toward Falling is the story of how they come to terms with it, and try to amend for their hesitation to act.My feelings are actually a bit all over the place when it comes to A Step Toward Falling. This book had a beautiful concept. A powerful message. The potential to give an emotionally impacting and raw tale about mistakes, penance, guilt and the consequences of choices. And to a certain extent the book did deliver what it promised. But if I have to say the truth, the story, and especially the writing, didn't live up to its glorious potential.I guess the whole problem with A Step Toward Falling was that it tried to tackle too many concepts. It tried to tell too many messages which clashed a lot when it was attempted to be said in such a short contemporary book. I expected this book to talk about just choices and guilt. In fact, if the book, only tackled that major, complicated concept and left everything else, untouched, everything would have been fine! Instead, this book tried to talk about stereotypes, the rights and feelings of disabled people, the unfairness of school systems and drifting apart from your friendships. All these messages, were important, and would've made terrific novel concepts, but stuffed together in one book, they lost the ability to bring the message across.Having said that, let me focus on the things I adored in the story. First of all, there was the character development. This book is all about characters coming to term with their mistakes and guilt, so we get to see how much the two main characters change.Emily's initial problem is that she can't believe that she did something - or rather didn't do anything - that is so against what she and her friends believe in and often speak up for. She struggles to accept her mistake, and more than that, suffers a lot while trying to keep up appearances in front of her friends though part of her wants to confess everything. Her transition from that girl to someone who actually doesn't care what society thinks and does what she wants is remarkable.Lucas is an enigma. I often wished we got his POV, because half of the time I struggled to understand his thoughts. But I liked his character though. I liked the way Cammie has tried to break the stereotype of a "football player". He was compassionate and his insecurities were adorable!Then there was Belinda - the differently abled girl in question. Her chapters were emotional. She had a big heart, an innocence which will touch you for sure, and my heart broke for the horrible experience she goes through. But I also admired her bravery, as she got through an experience which is one the worst a girl can ever go though and she totally tackled it with flying colours!Another character I want to mention - Anthony. An adorable guy with down syndrome who has a huge crush on Belinda. These two had a cute relationship! He was also forgiving, compassionate and had so many great qualities that even perfectly stable and well adults often lack to possess. It was beautifully ironical that differently abled people are considered as "less" when they're so much more than us all when it comes to their heart and soul.So what went wrong? The execution. Cammie McGovern didn't do a satisfactory job in executing a story with wonderful potential and it actually made me a bit angry. I felt like this book was such a waste. It could've been so much more, could've broadcasted a beautiful and important message to all readers, but the reality didn't meet up to the expectations here, sadly.Would I recommend this book? Certainly. While the book didn't have good execution, it did carry a powerful message which is often not explored in YA contemporary. The book will certainly make you question your choices, your beliefs and most of all, whether you actually are the person you appear to be.
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2015
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