In Darkness by Nick Lake

Name: Jake F. Grade: 9

Title & Author: In Darkness by Nick Lake

Impression : Okay/Awful

Recommend: Yes

Favorite part? I did not really have a favorite part because the book was quite dull, but I would have to say that I did enjoy the part when Shorty and Marguerite were traveling with the baby they found because it was somewhat of an adventure. And I really enjoy reading adventures.

Favorite character? Why?  My favorite character was Marguerite. Marguerite, according to Shorty, was a kind person and would be a kind hearted and good girl. It seemed as if she had no evil in her at all; she even took a baby out of the garbage and carried in her arms, with the help of shorty, until someone would help her. Overall Marguerite was an interesting person to read about and I wish she could have been in more of the book......

Summary:

The book takes place in three different times; the past, Shorty's past, and the present. The main character is Shorty, he is a Haitian boy who is trapped in a hospital by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He tells the tale of Haiti's past in the 18th century how Toussaint l'Ouverturefreed the slaves from the French. And how he ended up in the hospital. Shorty's tale involves gangs, adventure, true life history mixed with voodoo myths, or truths, and mystery. The gangster life had taken away Shorty's father and sister Marguerite and he doesn't stop searching for his sister and gets involved with the gangs and himself, becomes a gangster and befriends the man who killed his dad. Will Shorty ever get out of the hospital alive? Read to find out.

Additional comments:

When I first started reading this book I was interested to read it. All the summaries and reviews that I read prior were all pointing this book in a positive direction. It even won the 2013 Printz award. Despite all the positive backing this book had, I was very disappointed to find that it was a dull and slow moving story that was confusing to understand. A note that I must make before I go and trash it is that a friend explained some parts of the book, and my interest seemed to perk up again. She said she listened to it and thought it was fantastic, I don't know for sure if I was reading it wrong or the author just wrote in a dull way, but I was not interested while reading. However, if I ever get the chance, I think this book deserves on more try. :)