Book List July 28, 2008

8.6.2008    A Rock and a Hard Place – Anthony Godby Johnson I didn’t realize when I picked this up from my “to-read” bookcase that it was the book “written” by a kid that didn’t exist.  I figured it out while reading the introduction, mostly because it sounded so similar to The Night Listener, which I read a few months ago.  It was further confirmed by the first paragraph, which was not something that a 14 year old would ever think, let alone write.  And this was confirmed throughout the book – this is obviously a 40 year old person writing about a kid’s experience, but not the kid writing about it.  No 14 year old has that kind of insight AS a 14 year old.  Hell, as a 33 year old, I’m not sure *I* have that kind of insight into my life when I was 14.  This whole thing was so contrived that I can’t actually believe that NO ONE in the publishing process picked up on it.