Author:Hamill, Pete
Title:Snow in August
Plot Summary:: The book Snow in August is about a boy named Michael Devlin who grows up in Brooklyn. Michael meets up with a rabbi who lives in his synagogue. This event sparks a friendship between him and the rabbi that lasts throughout the book. In an anti jewish town, Michael finds himself in all sorts of scary, violent, and strange situations due to his friendship with the rabbi. Michael and his mother become threatened and they find themselves in a great deal of danger. The rabbi also gets into a great deal of trouble. The main source of these problems is a local gang named The Falcons. The Falcons are the most racist and troublesome gang around. Just a few of the horrible things this gang does includes: beating a Jew into a comma, carrying weapons, almost raping a woman, and many other horrible things. The leader, and the main source of evil in the book is Frankie McCarthy the most anti jew man around. All these events result in good defeating evil in dramatic fashion.
Review: In
my eyes, the characters in the story do "come alive." Michael
Devlin, for example, showed good and bad qualities throughout the book just
like you and me. In the story, Michael Devlin swore a great deal. This showed
that he is just like a real person in everyday life. People don't like to
admit it but everyone swears or has once sworn. Michael Devlin did his share
of good in the story too. Michael helped teach the Rabbi how to speak and
read English. Michael was a believable character because of his good and
bad and relatively normal lifestyle. After reading this book I am now more
aware of the effects of racism and what it can do to a community. I have
a totally different insight about society and man-kind. I now realize that
racism is still an issue and how serious racism really is. I enjoyed reading
this book for the most part. It was fairly well written and better than
most books I have read in the last few summers. Most but not all teenagers
would enjoy reading this book. I would recommend this book to teenagers
who like books that will grab you at times and for teenagers who like mild
action stories. I would not recommend this book for kids who like wacky
spaced out fiction stories because the largest part of this book was very
realistic.
Interest level 4 (kept me reading and somewhat interested)
Genre: Historical Novel
Quality: 4Q Popularity: 4P
(On a scale of one to five with five being the best.)
Reviewed by: Jason
Grade: 9
Date Reviewed: 9/22/02
School: Littleton High School
City, State, Country: Littleton MA, U.S.A