January 28, 2025 by HarperCollins
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Right before the presidential election of 2016, Ronald Rheinhart lives in a small town with his father, a security guard, his mother, a real estate agent, and his younger sister Livy. His older sister, Alison, who is very supportive, is away at college. Ronald, aka “Rhino” is a big kid who has always played football, and is hoping to get onto a college scholarship to play. When there is a school assembly, and his teammate and rival Josh stages an anti gun protest, the two tangle as Ronald tries to stop it. Josh head butts him, and Ronald retaliates with an automatic punch to the face. Josh’s father, a school board member running for city council, wants retribution, and the school just wants things to be quiet, so the two boys are remanded to Ms. Lamusciano, the school psychologist who runs an “in lieu of detention” Group. Also in the group are the very angry Keith, who has been bullied by football players and retaliated with inappropriate drawings, Joy, a trans Black gymnast, Marco, and Tyla. Ronald doesn’t share much, but does get drawn into the group’s drama a bit, even though his father tells him to keep his head down. Josh tries to take over the group and persuade them to join in his anti gun protests, but when a tragedy occurs, everyone is thrown off kilter. Ronald is being given a hard time by teammate Cogan, and struggles with a concussion. He even drives off to visit his sister, only to find out that she’s dropped out of college. When the previous tragedy has further ramifications, Ronald is really affected. Will he be able to navigate the difficult times with the questionable support of his family and friends?
Strengths: I don’t want to spoil things, but if you are looking for a book with nonfatal school shootings that also has football, this is the book for you. I loved Ronald, and thought he was a very interesting personality, successfully dealing with his right wing father, who rails against “woke” culture and also Josh, who was very “woke”. He’s right in the middle, but wisely keeping all of his opinions to himself. He is unphased by most things, including being targeted by the idiotic Cogan. He’s a smart kid, willing to keep an open mind, and just really wants to get out of his small town and move on to anything else. Mr. Lipsyte has written a number of other sports related books, including The Contender (1967) Center Field (2010), and Yellow Flag (2007). He’s 86 now, and still shows no signs of throwing in the towel!
Weaknesses: There were several circumstances that are questionable, and make this best suited for high school readers. Ronald’s history teacher, Mr. Biedermann, calls him on the phone to talk about assignments. Near the end of the book, Ronald drives Ms. Lamusciano home and goes into her condo for a cup of tea. I can’t believe that teachers in 2016 would do either of those things. Also, Ronald gets two serious concussions, yet continues to play football without observing concussion protocols. At one point, he washes a Percocet down with beer.
What I really think: This is a good choice for high school readers who enjoyed Herbach’s Cracking the Bell or Crutcher’s Angry Management.
No comments:
Post a Comment