leahegood's review against another edition
Oof. I don't have a rating for this one. After watching a few YouTube mini documentaries on reform schools in the United States, I went in search of a fictional take on them and found Boot Camp. This is not a story for the faint of heart.
Summary
Garret is 15 years old. With a brilliant mind, tall stature, and early maturation, he looks and acts older than he is. When he resists ending a relationship with an adult woman, his parents, fearing for their reputation, send him to a reform school. Garret soon finds out, it's more of a concentration camp than a school.
Thoughts
I wish the author had chosen a different trigger than an adult/minor relationship to get Garret dumped into the reform school. It felt like the reader was meant to sympathize with the relationship and ... no. Not okay.
Setting that aside, the fictional reform school in this story mimiced the reality from the YouTube documentaries in brutal relief.
Garrett himself is a compelling character. He courageously sticks up for himself and others and gives careful consideration to what he is and is not willing to sacrifice. He doesn't shy away from making hard calls.
Finally, this is NOT a story to go into if you're looking for a happy ending. Try [b:Dirt Road Home|7739953|Dirt Road Home (Alabama Moon, #2)|Watt Key|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435791035l/7739953._SX50_.jpg|10546057] if you want that. I like to imagine that Garrett receives counseling, support from his friends, and love from his parents to help him process the trauma he experienced, but that isn't part of this book.
Content
Language: There was probably some, but it didn't stand out to me, so not as much as most stories in this category.
Romance: A large part of the reason Garrett was sent to reform school is because of his relationship with an adult woman. For most of the story, he clings to memories of the relationship as he endures horrors. None of his memories are described in detail.
Violence: Garret is subjected to frequent beatings, isolation, and insults. Other boys threaten, and eventual stab him, with shivs.
Religion: One of the girls at the reform school is there because she refuses to conform to her family's Mormon beliefs. Garrett is not religious.
Summary
Garret is 15 years old. With a brilliant mind, tall stature, and early maturation, he looks and acts older than he is. When he resists ending a relationship with an adult woman, his parents, fearing for their reputation, send him to a reform school. Garret soon finds out, it's more of a concentration camp than a school.
Thoughts
I wish the author had chosen a different trigger than an adult/minor relationship to get Garret dumped into the reform school. It felt like the reader was meant to sympathize with the relationship and ... no. Not okay.
Setting that aside, the fictional reform school in this story mimiced the reality from the YouTube documentaries in brutal relief.
Garrett himself is a compelling character. He courageously sticks up for himself and others and gives careful consideration to what he is and is not willing to sacrifice. He doesn't shy away from making hard calls.
Finally, this is NOT a story to go into if you're looking for a happy ending. Try [b:Dirt Road Home|7739953|Dirt Road Home (Alabama Moon, #2)|Watt Key|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435791035l/7739953._SX50_.jpg|10546057] if you want that. I like to imagine that Garrett receives counseling, support from his friends, and love from his parents to help him process the trauma he experienced, but that isn't part of this book.
Content
Language: There was probably some, but it didn't stand out to me, so not as much as most stories in this category.
Romance: A large part of the reason Garrett was sent to reform school is because of his relationship with an adult woman. For most of the story, he clings to memories of the relationship as he endures horrors. None of his memories are described in detail.
Violence: Garret is subjected to frequent beatings, isolation, and insults. Other boys threaten, and eventual stab him, with shivs.
Religion: One of the girls at the reform school is there because she refuses to conform to her family's Mormon beliefs. Garrett is not religious.
robdabear's review against another edition
4.0
This was quite an interesting book. The main character, Garrett Durrell is sent away in the middle of the night to a teen detention camp somewhere in upstate New York. He was sent there by his parents against his will and without him knowing, so he could go and reform his problems. At the boot camp, Lake Harmony, he is beaten and abused, so much that I can garuntee the reader will want to hurt something while they read. It seems like Garrett is finally broken, when a risky escape plan is hatched.
This was quite a fast read, I was a little delayed over the weekend and school starting to finish it quickly enough though. The chapters were short and you never wanted to put the book down. It was very frustrating at times, but very excited as well.
Kind of a spoiler but not really: I hated the ending. Bad way to end a book. But I guess that was what was going to happen eventually anyway.
After the initial story ended there was an afterwards stating that teen detention camps like lake harmony exist, and immediately I was horrified by the fact that they operate generally in the same way as described in the book. You'll just have to read it to find out.
Good quick read, very angering and frustrating at times, but perhaps that was the point, to play at your emotions. 4 stars.
This was quite a fast read, I was a little delayed over the weekend and school starting to finish it quickly enough though. The chapters were short and you never wanted to put the book down. It was very frustrating at times, but very excited as well.
Kind of a spoiler but not really: I hated the ending. Bad way to end a book. But I guess that was what was going to happen eventually anyway.
After the initial story ended there was an afterwards stating that teen detention camps like lake harmony exist, and immediately I was horrified by the fact that they operate generally in the same way as described in the book. You'll just have to read it to find out.
Good quick read, very angering and frustrating at times, but perhaps that was the point, to play at your emotions. 4 stars.
taybtayb's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book!! Todd Strasser is one of my favorite writers.
alifromkc1907's review against another edition
4.0
Read more at http://rainbowreviews.wix.com/reading free or on Instagram @RainbowReviewsKC
Gut Instinct Rating - 5
Story Line - 5
Writing Style - 4
Characters - 4
Excitement Factor - 4
Believability for type and topics - 5
Similarity to other books - 3
Cover art - 3
Title Relevance - 3
When Garrett's parents think he's out of control, they hire transporters to pick him up in the middle of the night and take him to Camp Lake Harmony. Lake Harmony is basically boot camp for "troubled teens." Lake Harmony is hell. And because Garrett is only sixteen, he'll either have to figure out how to please the masters for early release, wait until he's 18, or... try to escape a top-security prison for teens.
You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:
Mental Abuse
Physical Abuse
Reform Camps
Coming of Age
HOLY SHIT seems to be the best phrase to describe my experience with this book. I said it numerous times, and wrote it once at the very end following the reading of the afterword. (Insert: HOLY SHIT! here.) I would've loved to have given this book a 5-star, but I had some issues, mostly minor... but the title really wasn't pleasing. We don't really get the idea that this is boot camp (which is why I didn't categorize it as a boot camp, but a reform camp) until close to the end. I would've much rather the title been Lake Harmony: Reform Camp or something other than Boot Camp. It sounds more like a military story as opposed to a reform camp, which is what Lake Harmony is. The cover art didn't really flatter me either since majority of the book, the apparel requirement for Garrett, is flip flops. Having a military-grade boot there is only applicable to a small part of the book, so I wasn't real pleased with that either. Two three's for art and title brought the book down from a 4.29 to a 4 (not that it's a horrible rating, but it was enough to drop the score from 4-stars to 4.5 stars).
The characters were really concrete, but they were almost too concrete. I felt like there wasn't a lot of variance in the characters. And maybe that's the reform camp setting talking to me, where everyone is expected to act a certain way, but had it not been for Mr. Sparks, Sarah, and Pauly, this would've gone down to a 3. Everyone was so similar, so it could become tiresome if you're someone who needs lots of color in their books. But, with the addition of these three characters, I think we saw the three levels of staff members and outside acceptance, as well as the three levels of level-one-campers. (That will hopefully make more sense once you've read the book.) There was a lot of changes for Garrett, which likely saved this from being a 3, or less. We saw a lot of personalities come out of Garrett, including the way he thinks, which I thought was the most valuable component to this story.
This book was so believable, it was unbelievable. And I can't/won't/don't want to say anything else, but... this definitely makes sense when you're reading.
This book, sadly, is similar to other books. I think I've read 2-3 books this year that have a very similar plot line. It doesn't make it a bad book, but the less unique something is, the more we are tied down to re-reading the same story with a few different characters. I think the aspects of this book were probably more deliberate. The author seems to really research his characters before he fully unveils them, which I think is fantastic (it lead to me not even being able to read Give a Boy a Gun by him, but this book was happily more catered to my reading needs). So in the case of this book, the characters made this book different from the others I've read. Sure, there's a hero, and a bully, and the "loser," and the girl (or the guy... in this case, it's a girl). All these things are applicable, but the way in which they were discovered, discussed, and displayed were different from the rest.
The writing style was fine. I wasn't overly impressed with anything here or there. It would've probably been given a 5 if there weren't paragraph-breaks to break up the story within the chapters, but that's not the end of the world. It wasn't a challenging read, and at times, I felt like it become too repetitive. I maybe would've been more interested in a diary perspective in place of some of the things that were routine in the story line. But again, it didn't break the book. The book was still powerful and exciting (most of the time, again... given the repetitive nature, sometimes you could doze out of a few pages).
Gut Instinct Rating - 5
Story Line - 5
Writing Style - 4
Characters - 4
Excitement Factor - 4
Believability for type and topics - 5
Similarity to other books - 3
Cover art - 3
Title Relevance - 3
When Garrett's parents think he's out of control, they hire transporters to pick him up in the middle of the night and take him to Camp Lake Harmony. Lake Harmony is basically boot camp for "troubled teens." Lake Harmony is hell. And because Garrett is only sixteen, he'll either have to figure out how to please the masters for early release, wait until he's 18, or... try to escape a top-security prison for teens.
You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:
Mental Abuse
Physical Abuse
Reform Camps
Coming of Age
HOLY SHIT seems to be the best phrase to describe my experience with this book. I said it numerous times, and wrote it once at the very end following the reading of the afterword. (Insert: HOLY SHIT! here.) I would've loved to have given this book a 5-star, but I had some issues, mostly minor... but the title really wasn't pleasing. We don't really get the idea that this is boot camp (which is why I didn't categorize it as a boot camp, but a reform camp) until close to the end. I would've much rather the title been Lake Harmony: Reform Camp or something other than Boot Camp. It sounds more like a military story as opposed to a reform camp, which is what Lake Harmony is. The cover art didn't really flatter me either since majority of the book, the apparel requirement for Garrett, is flip flops. Having a military-grade boot there is only applicable to a small part of the book, so I wasn't real pleased with that either. Two three's for art and title brought the book down from a 4.29 to a 4 (not that it's a horrible rating, but it was enough to drop the score from 4-stars to 4.5 stars).
The characters were really concrete, but they were almost too concrete. I felt like there wasn't a lot of variance in the characters. And maybe that's the reform camp setting talking to me, where everyone is expected to act a certain way, but had it not been for Mr. Sparks, Sarah, and Pauly, this would've gone down to a 3. Everyone was so similar, so it could become tiresome if you're someone who needs lots of color in their books. But, with the addition of these three characters, I think we saw the three levels of staff members and outside acceptance, as well as the three levels of level-one-campers. (That will hopefully make more sense once you've read the book.) There was a lot of changes for Garrett, which likely saved this from being a 3, or less. We saw a lot of personalities come out of Garrett, including the way he thinks, which I thought was the most valuable component to this story.
This book was so believable, it was unbelievable. And I can't/won't/don't want to say anything else, but... this definitely makes sense when you're reading.
This book, sadly, is similar to other books. I think I've read 2-3 books this year that have a very similar plot line. It doesn't make it a bad book, but the less unique something is, the more we are tied down to re-reading the same story with a few different characters. I think the aspects of this book were probably more deliberate. The author seems to really research his characters before he fully unveils them, which I think is fantastic (it lead to me not even being able to read Give a Boy a Gun by him, but this book was happily more catered to my reading needs). So in the case of this book, the characters made this book different from the others I've read. Sure, there's a hero, and a bully, and the "loser," and the girl (or the guy... in this case, it's a girl). All these things are applicable, but the way in which they were discovered, discussed, and displayed were different from the rest.
The writing style was fine. I wasn't overly impressed with anything here or there. It would've probably been given a 5 if there weren't paragraph-breaks to break up the story within the chapters, but that's not the end of the world. It wasn't a challenging read, and at times, I felt like it become too repetitive. I maybe would've been more interested in a diary perspective in place of some of the things that were routine in the story line. But again, it didn't break the book. The book was still powerful and exciting (most of the time, again... given the repetitive nature, sometimes you could doze out of a few pages).
htank's review against another edition
4.0
Very raw story, although still very good. It can be a bit rough to get through because its not a happy story.
ld277's review against another edition
3.0
Before reading this I wasn't aware that Boot Camps were an actual thing. Not in this extent at least. Though I really liked the overall theme of it, one thing I didn't like was the way how the main character's sexual relationship with his teacher was treated. I mean, he is 15 years old and gets punished for it. And what happens to the teacher? She gets fired. That's it. No legal charges. I mean, she did have a sexual relationship with a minor. And it is really off-putting how the whole this is kinda of romanticized (by another character who calls it "cute").
To sum up, I learned a lot from reading this. Some parents are right. Some are not. Overall a really eye-opening book.
To sum up, I learned a lot from reading this. Some parents are right. Some are not. Overall a really eye-opening book.
bxermom's review against another edition
5.0
My son wanted me to read this book. He read it quite a while ago but it is still one he talks about. After reading it, I can see why. Strasser has written a book about a topic that many of us know about, but don't pay any attention to. After reading this book, maybe you will.
Garrett is 'kidnapped' in the middle of the night by Lake Harmony transporters. His parents are sending him to boot camp to modify his behavior to what they deem acceptable. The book follows his journey while there.
An excellent book.
Garrett is 'kidnapped' in the middle of the night by Lake Harmony transporters. His parents are sending him to boot camp to modify his behavior to what they deem acceptable. The book follows his journey while there.
An excellent book.
kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful book - but the ending was not what I would have wanted...
Don't get me wrong it's a GOOD ending, just not what I love...
15-year-old Garrett finds himself handcuffed in the back of a car trying to make sense of why he is being sent to a facility for troubled teens.Strasser describes the horrifying violence and injustices experienced by teens sent to a disciplinary boot camp
Don't get me wrong it's a GOOD ending, just not what I love...
15-year-old Garrett finds himself handcuffed in the back of a car trying to make sense of why he is being sent to a facility for troubled teens.Strasser describes the horrifying violence and injustices experienced by teens sent to a disciplinary boot camp
sel_na2's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
rebekel89's review against another edition
dark
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0