A review by bethkemp
Dead Ends by Erin Jade Lange
5.0
I loved this touching story of friendship, self-discovery and belonging.
The two central characters are beautifully crafted and I challenge anyone to resist falling for Dane’s hidden soft centre or Billy’s fragility and openness. The relationship between these two outwardly so different characters is the book’s engine, driving the plot and keeping us reading.
This book is being compared to R J Palacio’s Wonder but I would caution against viewing it as a ‘disability’ book or an ‘issues’ book – it isn’t. It’s an intriguing and well-written story which happens to include a character with Down’s syndrome. The fact that this is unusual says rather more about attitudes to disability than it does this novel, and the book can definitely have a powerful effect in contributing to the positive representation of people with Down’s, but it is in no way ‘about’ Down’s. Such books tend to run thin on story and characterisation quite quickly – emphatically not the case here.
As stated above, the relationship between Dane and Billy D is the focus of this novel, but there are so many other lovely touches to it. Look out for: the quirky riddles left in Billy’s atlas; Dane’s Mum’s idiosyncratic ideas on how luck works and a nice little challenge to gender stereotypes courtesy of Seely.
The novel will appeal to fans of ‘road trip’ stories (as the striking cover suggests), and also those who enjoy thoughtful contemporary YA focused on friendship, family and school. I would strongly recommend it and will definitely be keeping an eye out for more by Erin Lange in the future.
The two central characters are beautifully crafted and I challenge anyone to resist falling for Dane’s hidden soft centre or Billy’s fragility and openness. The relationship between these two outwardly so different characters is the book’s engine, driving the plot and keeping us reading.
This book is being compared to R J Palacio’s Wonder but I would caution against viewing it as a ‘disability’ book or an ‘issues’ book – it isn’t. It’s an intriguing and well-written story which happens to include a character with Down’s syndrome. The fact that this is unusual says rather more about attitudes to disability than it does this novel, and the book can definitely have a powerful effect in contributing to the positive representation of people with Down’s, but it is in no way ‘about’ Down’s. Such books tend to run thin on story and characterisation quite quickly – emphatically not the case here.
As stated above, the relationship between Dane and Billy D is the focus of this novel, but there are so many other lovely touches to it. Look out for: the quirky riddles left in Billy’s atlas; Dane’s Mum’s idiosyncratic ideas on how luck works and a nice little challenge to gender stereotypes courtesy of Seely.
The novel will appeal to fans of ‘road trip’ stories (as the striking cover suggests), and also those who enjoy thoughtful contemporary YA focused on friendship, family and school. I would strongly recommend it and will definitely be keeping an eye out for more by Erin Lange in the future.