Scan barcode
A review by sistermagpie
Black Creek Crossing by John Saul
2.0
Not great. The plot centers around a girl who moves to a new town and becomes as big of an outcast as she was in her old town, but befriends another outcast. The two are bullied incessantly until getting some supernatural help from the begin that lives in her house.
I get really impatient with bullying stories that just don't ring true. There's not really any reason that the most popular kids in school should be obsessed with following a boy who doesn't like sports and the new girl who isn't pretty enough (and is the cousin of one of their tormenters). It's just weird they have nothing better to do that they just can't leave these two alone. Compare this to something like Carrie, which to me comes across as a much more believable and nuanced view of bullying. Carrie's been the outcast since kindergarten, she has things about her that would attract bullies, but even then most of the school simply ignores her. The one girl who insists on tormenting her isn't normal.
These kids are a bit younger, but still, it's like the world is set up to tease them all the time--including their parents, who are just created to be abusive in every way as well. It just made for a frustrating read.
I get really impatient with bullying stories that just don't ring true. There's not really any reason that the most popular kids in school should be obsessed with following a boy who doesn't like sports and the new girl who isn't pretty enough (and is the cousin of one of their tormenters). It's just weird they have nothing better to do that they just can't leave these two alone. Compare this to something like Carrie, which to me comes across as a much more believable and nuanced view of bullying. Carrie's been the outcast since kindergarten, she has things about her that would attract bullies, but even then most of the school simply ignores her. The one girl who insists on tormenting her isn't normal.
These kids are a bit younger, but still, it's like the world is set up to tease them all the time--including their parents, who are just created to be abusive in every way as well. It just made for a frustrating read.