Published by Penguin
working with Quick Reads at 80 pages of large-ish print it packs an
incredible punch.
There is no way to
talk about this without giving a massive spoiler away…
It beings “Hello
Mum” and ends “So now you know, I can say goodbye. Jerome
Cole-Wallace 1995-2009” - it is a letter of explanation from a dead
Boy to his Mother.
As you should expect
from Evaristo it has raw honestly, authenticity, insight, and power.
There is currently
attention given to the issue of teenagers, mainly black, dying on our
streets – but this book, which speaks to that exact issue, was
published in 2010 – we might not of been paying attention but lets
not pretend that this situation is new, and therefore lets not
pretend that the solutions are quick or easy.
It is clear that the
social context placed Jerome in the situations where he made choices
that led to his death – that combination of context and choice is
important. Most 14 year-olds in this country are growing up in
contexts, thankfully, where they are protected from crime, drugs, and
violence. They don’t have to make choices. But too many grow up in
contexts where they are face with the choice between a hard slog with
little reward – if you work hard at school etc the best you can
hope for is “a job” - and the alternative - the status and the
money that come from involvement with drugs.
Jerome was faced
with a choice, he made a bad choice but at the moment of decision a
pretty reasonable one – he was street-wise but probably essentially
naive to the consequences. He was a victim – but there can be a
risk in our legitimate desire to avoid victim shaming to strip people
of all agency – and one of the powerful things Evaristo does is
give him his voice back, give him his story back.
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