Suckerpunch

Starred review from January 28, 2008
Hernandez (A House Waiting for Music
), an award-winning poet, turns for the first time to fiction with a beautifully executed, frequently brutal coming-of-age story. Marcus, the narrator, stakes out his position from the opening sentence: “At the funeral for Oliver's father I daydreamed about killing my own.” The 17-year-old is keenly aware of his losses, beginning with the index finger that got severed during a Rollerblading accident and including the departure of his father, who walked out after Marcus finally stopped him from beating up his younger brother, depressive Enrique. He is equally aware of the space these losses create for rage. This is not an easy or comfortable novel to read: Marcus gets wasted frequently, Enrique turns increasingly cruel and few of the characters have viable options. Their suffering is palpable; as Marcus says of his home, “Our dad's rage followed us after he left. It trailed behind our footsteps from room to room, invisible.” When Marcus and Enrique's mother informs them that she is thinking about letting their father move back in, she galvanizes their anger, and the plan they hatch resolves in an unforeseeably violent, life-altering climax. The author's imagery, sometimes subtle, sometimes searing, invariably hits its mark. Ages 14-up.

August 1, 2008
Gr 9 Up -"Suckerpunch" is as powerful as its title implies. Marcus is quiet and artistic; his younger brother, Enrique, is a charismatic ladies' man. Both boys have been scarred by their father's constant physical abuse directed at Enrique and witnessed silently by guilt-ridden Marcus. The man left a year earlier, but the boys are far from healed. Enrique turns to fighting and dating and dumping girl after girl, while Marcus gets stoned. Then they get the news that their father may be returning home, and it sends both siblings, along with Enrique's girlfriend, Ashley, and Marcus's friend Oliver on a road trip that will change their lives forever. Using dark, descriptive text and explicit dialogue, Hernandez paints a very realistic portrait of the aftereffects of abuse. Not only does he create memorable and sympathetic characters in Enrique and Marcus, but he also brings life to Oliver, who is dealing with paternal demons of his own, and headstrong but caring Ashley. In the end he does not tie everything up neatly, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions. Older teens looking for gritty urban drama are sure to embrace this gripping, well-written story."Shari Fesko, Southfield Public Library, MI"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2008
In the summer before his senior year, Marcus and his friends escape their troubles at parties involving sex, drugs, and alcohol (all detailed in some explicit passages). At the background of Marcus angst is the physical abuse that his younger brother suffered from their father, who then left the family. Now, Dad wants to come back, and Marcus mother is considering the possibility. This sends Marcus, his brother, and his brothers girlfriend on a road trip to track down their father in San Francisco, where they hope to exact their own psychological revenge on Dad. The episodic, first-person narration powerfully captures Marcus scattered, adolescent thoughts, and many young readers will recognize his raw, unvarnished voice. The end provides a rather heavy-handed symbol of Marcus coming to terms with his past, but this is only a minor quibble about this otherwise realistic, affecting coming-of-age debut from a poet known for his adult works.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)