Why a Booktrail?
1980s: You can run from your past, but you can’t hide
Blame
What you need to know before your trail
Lucas is estranged from his father when he witnesses something that will change his life. When his father dies however, Lucas is left to deal the mix of feelings and angst so he moves from London to New York and tries to rebuild his life. But life is not that easy and problems can move with you.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
England
The strange, foreign country that is England begins once London’s behind you: the low-rise in the shadow of church spires; crows perched on telegraph above livestock grazing in oceans of green. From the train, each windmill, every bale of hay, is an archaic shock to the system. And as a tunnel ends, revealing the grey sea sidling alongside our sleepers, I get a taste of silence”
In the book, Lucas returns home to Becksmouth (fictional) but the nearby downs are where they sprinkle the father’s ashes -could this be Kent? It’s out of London, rural and quiet and time for reflection.
New York
“Manhattan, according to my map is a giant tooth, a girded and ridded fang, I walked down Seventh Avenue, through Times Square and its flashing, rippling neon, under the 3D M&M characters and Mr Peanut , and then head down Broadway. I walk for hours, through the areas Mariana’s father has told me not to to the very tip of the fang, to Battery Park and the World Trade Center site that part of the tooth that is irretrievably chipped.”
Booktrailer Review
Susan @thebooktrailer
A quirky book this one. Partly written as a diary with pictures, partly an inward look into the mind of a broken man, looking back over his past and the day he found out his father had died. Thankfully for a teenage boy he writes a full diary as this helps build a picture of why he was estranged from his father and what has happened before and after that life changing day.
Chock full of emotion, guilt, grief and everything in between, this is a raw book. Grief is something unique to everyone but you know Lucas carries an extra burden so to work all of that out, takes time to process. Why did he and his father fall out, what does go on inside the head of a young boy and how do you get through the many agonies of life?
And do you carry blame around with you or do you dish it out?
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Blame
Author/Guide: Paul Read Destination: England, New York City Departure Time: 1980s onwards
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