Title: Cracks
Author: Mike Klaassen
Publisher: Abbott Press
ISBN: 978-1458215925
Pages: 184
Genre: Adventure
Reviewed by: Henry Kronk
Pacific Book Review
“Kinda reminds me of an hourglass,” says Bodie, the hero of Mike Klaassen’s young adult novel Cracks, while examining a rock column on a spelunking trip in the Ozarks Mountains. The cave-exploring crew is comprised of a firemen, a policemen, a judge, and a motley gang of teenagers who, like Bodie, have found their way into the wrong side of the law. A violent earthquake hits, burying the adults beneath an avalanche of rocks. The kids are left alone to make their way back to civilization.
Klaassen’s novel gives a voice to the fantasy that independently minded teenagers consider at some point: if all the responsibility-wielding adults around you were subtracted from the equation, would you make it? Set in the remote Ozarks thirty miles away from help, the situation of Cracks is possible enough to maintain Klaassen’s commitment to realism. This is a yarn of real people in real places dealing with real problems.
Viewed through Bodie’s lens, his characterization has credibility. After living with foster parents since the age of six, the protagonist has never felt a real sense of belonging and greets strangers with mistrust, or at best, ambivalence. The spelunking trip was a benevolent sentence from Judge Barnes that took the place of community service. The crime that landed Bodie on the trip was marijuana possession, which can actually get you a year in jail in Arkansas. Wronged by his parents and the world, Bodie’s teenage angst is well founded, and he dreams of hitching to a port town and getting work on a ship so he can “take control of his own life and never depend on anyone ever again.”
Cracks form in Klaassen’s world when it comes to his fellow teen criminals. Rusty figures himself a true courtesan, and speaks in Shakespearean verse, and honors the victims of the rockslide with a rendition of ‘Taps’ on his harmonica. Adam landed on the trip by bringing a pipe bomb to school. Conspiratorially minded, he is ever watchful of the government and idolizes the fictional Colonel Elijah McAllister, who urges his readers to arm themselves, protect their privacy, and prepare for the patriotic revolution. Stranger still is Spider whose language is that of a 19th century gentleman. “I don’t know about you gentlemen,” he proclaims, “but I’ve developed an appetite. We haven’t had a bite since breakfast. Let’s declare a truce and see if we can get the food out of the vehicles.”
The characters are well chosen and provide support to the protagonist, however the only boy who bears any semblance to the reality that Klaassen presents is Tug, a large bully fond of hate speech with a southern accent. In an adventure with challenges and survival, Bodie must tango with these caricatures if he ever hopes to make it back to civilization. This is an exciting read and a well-founded tale of teen independence. Although Klaassen’s supporting characters could have been casted with more attention to development, the story moves fluidly and would be an ideal book to accompany a young adult on a trip, or for any occasion. Cracks is a book you will not be able to put down.
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