Product Description

Young Ben finds that he is happy in the stable life provided by his stepfather despite his uncertain relationship with his moody and troubled stepbrother and his mother's growing restlessness in her new marriage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3607875 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From Publishers Weekly
While Griffin's (The Other Shepards) cast here is as compelling as ever, her latest novel seems much like a series of character sketches. As the book opens, Ben, the 11-year-old narrator, addresses his absent 17-year-old stepbrother, Dustin. "You would have called her a fruitcake," Ben begins, referring to Mallory, the woman he is dialing on the phone. The chapters alternate between the present and flashbacks. It emerges that Mallory has been seeing Ben's stepfather, Lyle; Ben is calling to tell Mallory that Dustin is injured and in the hospital; Ben's mother, Gina, left Lyle a year and a half ago, but Ben chose to remain with him; Dustin, Lyle's own son, ran away to live with Gina, who called to inform Lyle of Dustin's accident. Whew! Ben's memories of Dustin lay the groundwork for his hypothesis that Dustin planned his accident; consequently the ending is unlikely to surprise readers. The flashbacks lead up to the climactic scene in which Ben faces Dustin in the hospital, but here the second-person narrative becomes problematic. For example, Dustin tells Ben that he thinks Mallory is a fruitcake, calling the opening line of the novel into question. Is Ben's address intended as a post-mortem? Poetic images infuse the novel, but ultimately the conflicts feel unresolved. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Grade 7-10-Narrated by 11-year-old Ben, this short, engaging novel quickly draws readers into the boy's fractured life, in particular his relationship with his troubled older stepbrother, Dustin, and the unraveling of his mother's marriage. Skillfully weaving past and present, he explains how Gina left Ben's father, taking the boy along, and settled in a new town, eventually marrying widower Lyle, whose teenage son is struggling with the untimely death of his mother. Dustin has great difficulty accepting Gina and Ben, but with the passage of time his hostility turns to a grudging and sometimes affectionate tolerance. Ben's stream-of-consciousness narration is insightful and ironic, but his maturity seems unusual for a child his age. He recognizes that Dustin is self-destructive and holds on to his grief, keeping everyone at a distance, especially his well-meaning but inflexible father. Readers will be drawn to his insights into the events unfolding around him, particularly his own awareness that the security he feels with his stepfather ultimately outweighs the connection he feels to his mother when he must choose to live with one or the other, and they will appreciate Ben's courage and irreverent humor. Unfortunately, teens may be put off by the large type, and assume the book is for younger readers. It definitely is not. This is an unusually moving and gracefully written novel that offers a memorable portrait of a blended family in crisis.
Douglas Wooley, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Griffin's latest is the story of two stepbrothers whose relationship is both tenuous and troubled. In the first-person narrative, 11-year-old Ben's almost stream-of-consciousness musings and remembrances are directed to older brother Dustin. Dustin has gone out west to be with Ben's mother, leaving Ben with Dustin's father. Ben recounts how this convoluted situation came to be as he and Dustin's father, Lyle, and Lyle's girlfriend rush to California, where Dustin has been injured in a diving accident. Along with seeing Dustin, Ben must also face his mother. His heartfelt effort to understand his brother is absorbing, and the last chapter, which reveals what happens when Dustin takes his final dive, is quietly moving if not entirely unexpected. Griffin seems to be straining stylistically here: readers may find it hard to get their bearings for the first couple of chapters, and the language continually draws attention to itself ("Lyle's words usually line up straight on a balance beam of caution"). But whatever its shortcomings, the story still has the ability to hold readers, especially with its strong characterizations. Ilene Cooper

Customer Reviews

Hard to understand
I just couldn't get this book. I was at the library, looking for a good book. "Dive" just seemed interesting on the back cover, so, I checked it out. The moment I read the first paragraph, I knew it was trouble. They had not explained the characters yet, they haven't even started with a person's name. Just "I" "you" "they" "the". Those are word that are really hard to understand when reading the first few chapters of a book. I checked it in, and got another book. Really hard to understand. Is it a sequal? The book didn't say. Then yet, even other sequal books I've read were easier to read. I do not recommend this book.

Family Problems
Ben's early life was very unstable. His mother would get restless after a little time in one location, and before he knew it she would be off and running, leaving Ben's father to chase after them. When Ben is seven, his parents finally divorce. Ben and his mother move in with her new love interest, Lyle, and his thirteen-year-old son Dustin, who is still mourning the death of his mother and is resentful of the presence of Ben and his mother in their house.

Lyle is the perfect force of stability in Ben's life. Their household operates with rules and life is predictable. In three years when Ben's mother chooses to wander again, Ben refuses to join her. He has decided to stay with Lyle. Dustin is feeling suffocated by his closely regulated life, though, and as soon as he gets his licence he takes off to live with Ben's mother, where there are few rules.

Now Dustin has been in a diving accident and is in the hospital. Ben and Lyle fly out to see him. It will be the first time in a long time that Ben sees his mother, and Lyle is still hoping to reclaim his wayward son. But family reunions are rarely that simple.

I liked the underlying story of this book, and the complex relationships that develop when families start breaking up and recombining in new ways. I found myself a bit confused at the beginning, as this story is formulated as a narrative from Ben to Dustin. Therefore, there is no real introduction of characters and you have to figure out what is going on as the story develops. This writing style also means that the reader never gets any insight into what Dustin is actually thinking or feeling throughout these traumatic life events.

A book you wont put down
Ok this book is well writen and is intresting i read it in one morning but it could have ended better. I would not recomend this for smaller children.But I as a 14 yearold thought it was intresting.