Suckerpunch

Title:Suckerpunch

Written by:David Hernandez

Publisher:HarperTeen

Summary:

In the summer before his senior year, Marcus and his friends escape their troubles at parties involving sex, drugs, and alcohol (all detailed in some explicit passages). At the background of Marcus’ angst is the physical abuse that his younger brother suffered from their father, who then left the family. Now, Dad wants to come back, and Marcus’ mother is considering the possibility. This sends Marcus, his brother, and his brother’s girlfriend on a road trip to track down their father in San Francisco, where they hope to exact their own psychological revenge on Dad. The episodic, first-person narration powerfully captures Marcus’ scattered, adolescent thoughts, and many young readers will recognize his raw, unvarnished voice. The end provides a rather heavy-handed symbol of Marcus coming to terms with his past, but this is only a minor quibble about this otherwise realistic, affecting coming-of-age debut from a poet known for his adult works.