Scan barcode
hilarylouise's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Teacher's Dead follows Jackson Jones, a young teenager (I would estimate 13/14 due to comments made in the story, although this is never officially confirmed) who sees his teacher get stabbed by a couple of boys in his class. He feels the need to understand what happened, and so begins to conduct an "investigation" of his own.
This is a really interesting story. The point of view this is told from is interesting, and I love the idea of this as a story, especially for the YA age group. I think it covers an outlet of grief for someone that you don't particularly know well in a approachable manner, and even covers the idea of an alternative therapy to, well, therapy as an outlet.
Where this fell down for me, is that it doesn't feel entirely realistic. At times Jackson felt very young for his age, and at others incredibly old. I think the personalisation of him was a bit off the mark. One moment he was acting like a 10/11 year old, and then next making big decisions about a police case that didn't really involve him as anything more than a witness. He doesn't seem to have any real personality, and a lot of his decisions seemed founded in childish logic (which his mum then let him go ahead with?!) The adult's reactions to him also seemed odd to me - his mum trusting him with enormous decisions, his head teacher allowing him to demand things from her, his relationships with both the victim's wife and the murderer's mother... it all felt a little improbable.
I think this would be a good book for young teens to read, as a starting point to understand grief, therapy, and to never take things at face value, but it definitely needs to be explored further, and I think the work misses the mark with me.
This is a really interesting story. The point of view this is told from is interesting, and I love the idea of this as a story, especially for the YA age group. I think it covers an outlet of grief for someone that you don't particularly know well in a approachable manner, and even covers the idea of an alternative therapy to, well, therapy as an outlet.
Where this fell down for me, is that it doesn't feel entirely realistic. At times Jackson felt very young for his age, and at others incredibly old. I think the personalisation of him was a bit off the mark. One moment he was acting like a 10/11 year old, and then next making big decisions about a police case that didn't really involve him as anything more than a witness. He doesn't seem to have any real personality, and a lot of his decisions seemed founded in childish logic (which his mum then let him go ahead with?!) The adult's reactions to him also seemed odd to me - his mum trusting him with enormous decisions, his head teacher allowing him to demand things from her, his relationships with both the victim's wife and the murderer's mother... it all felt a little improbable.
I think this would be a good book for young teens to read, as a starting point to understand grief, therapy, and to never take things at face value, but it definitely needs to be explored further, and I think the work misses the mark with me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Death
Minor: Animal cruelty and Violence
More...