Review of A Bloody Book

[leonard cavallaro]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A Bloody Book" by Chris Bowen.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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An estimated 356 million children worldwide live in poverty. This is an extremely confronting number for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that this is more than the total population of the U.S.A. A Bloody Book is the story of one such child as they struggle to grow due to the confines that their family and school impose upon them.

Max has been called a lot of things but stupid is the most common. His class is known as ‘Reading Hell’ and acts as a dumping ground for the dullest and the worst. The kids there are treated as if they are beyond hope and most of them have accepted what appears to be a future similar to those of their abusive parents, lonely and painful.

Yet the arrival of a bold new teacher called Mr. Foxx changes all of this. He doesn’t pretend to like them or spin them a tale of wonderful opportunities in the world. Instead, this bizarre teacher works with them to try to figure out what went wrong. Because they all started as bright little kids and somewhere along the way that innocence dried up. As Mr. Foxx presents to the room Max shares his own life story.

The book was in a conversational first-person format which allowed me to better relate with our main character and his troubled childhood. The main event actually occurring in the story was Mr. Foxx’s conversation with the class. However, this was regularly interrupted as Max narrated his own life. These breaks in the story were not jarring. In fact, the flowing style meant the shifts felt natural, and I was immediately immersed back into whatever was happening but with an even deeper empathy for our main character.

A Bloody Book was both engaging and thought-provoking. In the short space of roughly 150 pages, our author, Chris Bowen, showcased unique characters. It is for this that I would rate it 3 out of 4 stars. The main reason it didn’t achieve a perfect score was a combination of a few smaller factors. The ending felt a bit rushed and inconclusive. There was also the opportunity for our author to include Max’s classmates. This would have made the important messages in the story more powerful by showcasing a variety of personal struggles.

I would not recommend A Bloody Book for children as it does discuss themes relating to drug and alcohol overuse, domestic abuse, and murder. However, these themes are the reason I would recommend it for teens and adults as they grant a bit of perspective into the privileged lives that many people take for granted.

Overall, A Bloody Book was an intriguing novel that requires only some minor alterations. It is definitely a worthwhile read with many relevant and insightful messages for the reader.

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A Bloody Book
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[markodim721]

I like that the book is realistic and thought-provoking. I appreciate that the author decided to make the book a bit shorter.

[Lucy Vera]

I like that the book evokes thoughts and questions in a reader's mind. Thanks for the review.