In 2001, this social issues book was awarded the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. The book is about the journey of a young man, Will, who is trying to understand why death follows him. Over the course of the book the reader learns that his mother, father, and stepmother all committed suicide when Will was a very young child. He has lived a very difficult life because he feels that he is somehow responsible for their death. In this book, Will is living with his grandparents and occasionally attends workshop class. In this class he is remarkably talented in creating gnomes and because of his unique talents he meets a girl in his class name Angela. She remarks how wonderful crafted they are and this is the first person at his school that has ever talked to him besides his teacher. This conversation soon led to a very interesting friendship. Will has always believed that he is responsible for all the suicides that has happened since the death of his parents. Soon he is more convinced that he brings death because four more of his classmates commit suicide since he arrived at the school. After the first three suicides Will’s famous statues where left in the place where the teenager committed suicide. However, Will never put them their and the whole town believes that he is responsible for the deaths of the teenagers. The last suicide was even more mysterious because Will’s statue was placed before the suicide happened. Will convinces himself that he is behind these horrible tragedies. However, his friend Angela and his grandparents serve as a consent reminder that these deaths were not his fault and that he has the power to live life again. At the very end of the book he meets the classmate who was stealing his statues, this classmate wants Will’s knowledge about how he knows what people will die next. After Will freighted the boy Will though he must release the demon inside him and went for a swim in the ocean. As Will was swimming he thought about starting a fresh life for himself and live again. He got out of the ocean and returned to his grandparents with a smile and hope in his eyes. The main reason why this book is banned is because the books talks about suicide. I believe that this book should be challenged because children to not need to learn about the mental state of a person who is suicidal. However, this book might help out children’s who parents have committed suicide.
Tedious, dreary, needlessly convoluted and boring beyond belief, it was all I could do to wade through this portrait of the artist as a young bore. Will’s interior monologue is relentlessly centered on himself and he appears to be suffering some kind of mental deficiency. You’re not sure if it’s a form of Asperger’s or amnesia. Either way, it makes him a total dullard.The whole novel reads like one long strange interlude. Every word or sentence from someone else sets off a blizzard of inner commentary for Will. Of course, no one else can see or hear what’s going on inside his mind so that makes him incredibly opaque to everybody. There’s a rash of murder/suicides for which Will may or may not be responsible (even he isn’t quite sure). The mystery feels somehow tacked on to the story, a futile effort to make Will seem interesting when he is patently not. The only thing that can be said to be vaguely titillating is the girl Angela. Surprisingly, she’s not made into a love interest for Will. For a while, it seems like she’s vaguely interested in him because she suspects that he’s incapable of emotional attachment. Being that she’s on the fast track to an athletic career and is determined to let nothing, not even a man, stand in her way, that’s a very smart attitude on her part.But in the end not even the addition of a smart cookie like Angela is enough to redeem this meandering tale of adult ineffectuality and teenage ennui.
What do You think about Freewill (2004)?
The book Freewill by Chris Lynch was about this teenage boy who seems to be a loner with a somewhat traumatic background. He lives with his grandparents and goes this school for certain kinds of people. Lynch is very vague throughout the book. Although that characteristic makes you want to read on, it gets slightly aggrivating because there are so many blanks and question marks throughout the book. Anyway, we go through the thoughts of this kid Will and his desire to be a pilot, even though he's in woodshop. His works have this odd significance in deaths/suicides (still unclear to me). He ends up being worshipped as a goth angel of death.Overall this book was okay. It was really confusing I think mainly because it was in second person and the author kept trying to keep what was going on a mystery. Even after finishing the book I still don't know what exactly happened or understand what happened. It was a very interesting style but I think it didn't exactly fit the character. The 2nd person style made me think that Will was maybe schizophernic or something like other books I've read but it seems that he isn't. It may be just me, but this book was very difficult to understand. There's a lot of internal thinking, character action (mainly things that describe body language) but it never really defined exactly what was going on throughout the book. It may of been to allow room for interpretation, but I feel that it was just loosely written.
—Stephanie
I finished this book with the "WTF just happened" feeling common to readers, judging by the other reviews on Goodreads. I'm as guilty as anyone of dismissing books I don't understand as trash (hello, Ulysses) but something about Freewill makes me want to dig deeper and understand. The second person POV didn't bother me and I think was a brilliant choice to enhance the mental confusion that Will feels and the reader shares with him. You are supposed to feel disoriented, because he does. You are s
—Falina
I did not get this story. I read the whole thing and was not impressed at all. I didn't like how the story progressed, and I also thought that it was a little dark. The story was told in a really different format, and I thought it was confusing and hard to get used to. I almost couldn't wrap my mind around it. There was some language in it as well, which was annoying. I am really not liking the pattern that is developing around the Printz books I have been reading lately...I don't think that I've read one that I've liked yet. Needless to say, I would not recommend this book.*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2009...
—Snorkle
