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"I hit him so hard, the clash of helmets and pads sounded like a gunshot across the field. I crushed him with the hit, held on to him and crushed him again when I slammed him into the ground . . . I had arrived."
Arlo Brodie loves being at the heart of the action on the football field, getting hit hard and hitting back harder. Arlo's dad cheers him on, but his mother quotes head injury statistics and refuses to watch games. Arlo's girlfriend tries to make him see how dangerously he's playing; when that doesn't work, she calls time out on their relationship.Even Arlo's coaches begin to track his hit count, ready to pull him off the field when he nears the limit. But for Arlo the winning plays, the cheering crowds, and the adrenaline rush are enough to convince him that everything is OK--in spite of the pain, the pounding, the dizziness, and the confusion.
"Powerful." --The New York Times Book Review
"Sharp." --Sports Illustrated
"Heart-pounding." --Washington Independent Review of Books
"A powerful provocative look at the dark side of popular sports and their potential cost." --Publishers Weekly
"This unflinching examination of the price of athletic power with plenty of bone-crunching play-by-play action, is both thought-provoking and formidable." --The Horn Book Magazine
A Booklist 2015 Top Ten Sports Books for Youth
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Arlo Brodie's devotion to football progresses throughout his high school years, even as evidence mounts that repeated head injuries are affecting him both cognitively and emotionally. In four sections that correspond to the four years of high school, Arlo describes the manner in which the sport gradually becomes an obsession, driving him to train incessantly and take ever greater risks in practice and games. He ignores the warnings of his mother, his girlfriend, and his own body until he is forced to confront his violent nature after grabbing his girlfriend during an argument in school. Comparisons are sure to be made with the author's groundbreaking Inexcusable (S. & S, 2005). Readers expecting the intense, concentrated focus of the earlier book, however, may be disappointed in this more diffuse effort, which features, for instance, a never-resolved subplot involving Arlo's jealousy of an older guy he thinks his girlfriend may be seeing. The novel also has some issues in terms of voice and narrative arc. In the first section, the 14-year-old Arlo comes across as entirely too erudite and sophisticated for a freshman, and the entire final section seems confusing as Arlo takes up boxing, of all things, to substitute for the football he has had to abandon because of his head trauma. His motivation for doing so is never sufficiently explained and the closing chapters are likely to leave readers scratching their heads. VERDICT An intriguing work that raises troubling questions about the culture of violence in American high school sports.-Richard Luzer, Fair Haven Union High School, VT (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this brutal, no-holds-barred drama, Lynch (Killing Time in Crystal City) paints a grim portrait of a teen addicted to the physicality of high-impact sports like football. Arlo Brodie, an up-and-coming freshman linebacker, discovers a talent for taking down anyone in his path on the field, and he revels in the contact and the rush. Over the next few years, he grows obsessed with training and working out, becoming a star varsity player as a sophomore and earning the nickname "Starlo." But the harder he hits, the more abuse his body takes, worrying his friends, family, girlfriend, and teammates. Arlo's entire identity is rooted in dominating the field and crushing his opponents, but he may have no choice but to stop, as injuries take their toll. Lynch offers a powerful, provocative look at the dark side of popular sports and their potential cost, using Arlo as a cautionary, even tragic tale. Arlo's rise and fall is handled skillfully, allowing readers into the self-destructive, self-deceiving mind-set of an addict without condemning him. The ending is abrupt, however; Arlo's story feels far from done. Ages 14-up. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.