Paintings from the Cave helped me fall in love with Gary Paulsen. So I've come to love Gary Paulsen. It was destined to happen. Only good things and people have ties to Minnesota, as we know. And true greatness hails from this, the finest of The Fifty. Judy. She alone proves that. Then add Jessica Lange and Billy Graham, the founders of Mars Candy Company, Pillsbury and the Mayo Clinic, Charles Shulz, the Andrews Sisters, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, all with strong Minnesota ties, either born there or spent a great deal of time there, and well, yeah. Minnesota.
This book is a short, short and wonderful read. I don't want to give anything away, but I'll say a little bit about each of the three stories.
The first is a hard-hitting, tear-jerking, anger-inducing story of a young boy growing up in neighborhood riddled with crime and poverty. It it s heart-breaking story told from the POV of Jake who has seen horrors that most adults can never imagine. He lives in constant fear, but he's a brave dude, on the run from a drug dealer named Blade who wants to put him in his army of foot soldiers.
The second is the story of Jo who lives in a trailer with her drunk-butt Biologicals, as she calls them. She never has had any love, anyone to care for her, until she meets The Dogs and become her family and teach her how to love and be loved.
The last story is the tale of two brothers who ran away from home and live in the car, in warehouses, on the floor of co-worker's living rooms, etc.
Man. These are seriously powerful stories and Paulsen writes from experience, having had a hard childhood himself. You just know as you read that he knows what he is talking about here.
Awesome book.
But can we expect any less, from Minnesota.
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