Trouble: A memoir

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I found it problematic. Maybe I’m too old. But I just don’t want to read books that reinforce negative ideas. Readers deserve better. As characters, Hannah and Aaron deserved better. I appreciate the ambiguity, especially towards the end. Pratt leaves Hannah and Aaron’s relationship status up in the air. They are friends, yes. More than that? Hard to say. Maybe. Trouble’s ending really only marks the beginning of the next chapter in Hannah’s life (and the life of her new baby). Rather than providing a trite epilogue, Pratt firmly reminds us that life gives no assurances: Hannah is only fifteen; there is so much more that will happen to her, good and bad. Anyway, other than all of that.. I enjoyed reading Trouble. I was frustrated, it got me laughing and it made me think. I don't think it's for everybody though, but it's worth giving a try! By reaching the summit of the mountain, Henry learns that instead of his father's strategy of avoiding discomfort, pain, and sadness, Henry should build his house right in the center of tragedy, which he and his father call, "Trouble." Update this section! Pratt has created amazingly layered and captivating characters in the form of Hannah and Aaron and we get their stories in alternating chapters. Both of them are struggling with what is going on in their lives… Hannah in a very apparent way, and Aaron in a way that is a bit less apparent but none-the-less hard for him.

The blurb and the text state that Hannah is smart. But she really is not. She is does badly at school. She only handles herself socially by putting down other people and portraying herself as really sexual. She’s not even emotionally intelleigent. She is funny and lively but she’s hugely immature. My one little issue with Trouble is the ending came way too fast. I really wanted more and I as left with so many questions. What happened with Katie? What happened to Aaron and Hannah afterwards? What happened to Jay? I felt the ending was a tad bit rushed but I still loved it and it does not take away from the beauty of this masterpiece. I would love to see a sequel to see what happened to everyone after the end of the book. But despite all those positive points, as the book went on I genuinely started to find it weak and distasteful.I guess that if I have a problem with this novel it concerns the racial tensions in the book. First of all, I think that one of the hardest jobs a writer can undertake is to write racist characters that don’t think of themselves as racist. And Schmidt has an ear for just exactly the right tone of voice when it comes to something like an editorial in a newspaper. “Only those undeserving of the privileges of American citizenship could be responsible.” Pitch perfect. Yet this book plays its hand pretty openly. I would have liked a little more nuance or complexity concerning the whole white vs. Cambodian storyline. You'd have to be pretty dense to miss some of what Schmidt's saying here about white privilege. This probably bothers people, but I liked the fact that they were friends, possibly more? It showed that guys and girls can still be really close without it necessarily being more, but they weren't strictly not more either. But it's mentioned that there are times when people are not in a place emotionally to be in that kind of relationship and should focus on other things. I loved both Aaron and Hannah. I didn’t always agree with their actions but could always sympathise with them. Together, they were perfect. Even though it appeared to be just a friendship relationship – although I was rooting for more – but I could see why romance wasn’t added. These two didn’t need it in their lives because at that point of their lives, friendship was enough. It’s a tale of true best friends. The writing. The prose wasn't particularly memorable but it's worth mentioning that the two POVs were very distinct from each other. Hannah and Aaron's perspectives were so different. It really was like being in two separate minds. A lot of writers cannot pull this off.

Despite my quibbles, I thought this was a very good book, and would recommend it to older readers who enjoy reading twists on more controversial topics. And -- if we hadn't previously gotten the drift -- it becomes abundantly clear that Chay and Louisa (Henry and Franklin's sister) have been spending time together and are in love. One might well conclude that knowledge of this relationship has contributed to Franklin's neanderthal behavior. It is during the pretrial hearing, when all of this is revealed, that Dr. Sheringham's testimony also makes it crystal clear that the administration has fully sanctioned the abuse meted out upon Chay by Franklin and his cronies.This is a really sex positive story, for one about teenage pregnancy. There's a misinterpretation of a scene of being forced, which gets resolved into something's that is both sex positive, about enthusiastic consent, and champions boys who call peers on bad behaviour. Yes, there's examples of perfectly teenage behaviour, with lying about conquests and such, but that doesn't diminish the sex positivity. I think I built this book up in my mind too much. I saw that it was about underage pregnancy and that it was all acclaimed and everything and I thought that it would be raising some really interesting moral questions and shining a light on teen and underage pregnancies, which is a perennially hot topic. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out for me. I heard the author interviewed on NPR (WBUR?) for a more recently released YD book, “Okay for Now.” He sounded interesting and the book sounded good and I ended up buying both for my thirteen year old daughter. (She’s reading “The Hobbit” right now for school. I ask if it’s okay to read one of these books for school but she can’t. Today they take web based tests that go into some State database so kids can’t negotiate the approved list anymore with their teachers. Everything is decided by the all-knowing “Cloud.”) However, I think it does everyone a dis-service when authors are straight up unthinking and irresponsible with how they write teens. The kids can be blindly ignorant but if you’re portraying parental figures as caring and involved and responsible, then you know, they should actually act that way.

One scene that totally didn't ring true and really bugged me was the courtroom "interrogation" of the witnesses: Why would Chay's lawyer laying out all the information that can convince anyone that Chay had every right to take revenge on Franklin, after being harassed for such a long time? All those questions serve as an exposition for the readers but it was done in a way that is not convincing at all. Gary Schmidt is probably my favorite children's writer after the venerable Katherine Paterson. I love both of them as phenomenal people, and admire them both madly as writers. So that's a disclaimer of sorts. That said--I didn't love TROUBLE as much as LIZZIE BRIGHT, and I didn't work on this book, so don't have quite the affection for it that I do for THE WEDNESDAY WARS. And I do see a few wee little problems in the narrative. BUT, they hardly matter b/c I think the heart of this book rises far above the narrative itself.I didn’t really connect with or like Hannah very much either. The blurb printed on the cover says, ‘Hannah is smart and funny.’

Set in the 1980s, TROUBLE is the story of Henry Smith, a middle school student growing up on the northern coast of Massachusetts in a large house which has been inhabited by his ancestors for 300 years. Henry's older brother, Franklin, and his sister, Louisa, both attend Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Preparatory High School in Blythbury-by-the-Sea, the town that has grown up around their ancestral home. Big brother Franklin is the golden boy, popular and athletic, who can do no wrong -- or at least that is how it seems at first glance. I bet your wondering why I didn’t rate it 5 stars if I loved the story so much. Well, that’s because of the ending. I loved how the story ended but just felt as though it needed more. It ended too soon after a major moment. I wanted to know what happened next. An epilogue would have been fantastic! I’m not one of those pearl-clutching adult readers of YA. I love to see real life situations portrayed in books for teens and I don’t care about thinking of the children or whatever. I expect young people to act like young people and that includes make less than perfect choices and mistakes and everything else. Nor do I think books have to teach lessons or guide kids in any particular direction. There were people besides just Aaron who stood by Hannah when she got outed. She had other friends. Thanks to Trinja and Emily (both awarding Trouble 5 shining stars and fave reads of the year) for bringing this book to my attention :)Characters. I love Aaron. A lot. He's real. I have friends that are Aaron so it's easy to be inside his head. I don't know what to say anymore about him but I can confidently say that any reader will find it hard to hate this guy. You'll be frustrated, yes, but c'mon! He's a teenager with issues. Now, Hannah on the other hand is different. I want to symphatise, I really do. But IT'S SO FREAKIN' HARD. She's funny, witty and full of angst but she's also.. dumb. That's why while reading I can't help but think that she deserves everything that is happening to her. She's not acing at school, she doesn't think through the things that she does and she can't think about anything but sex. That's why she got pregnant in the first place. Oh did i mention that she's just 15???