21. Linked

Linked. Gordon Korman. 2021. 256 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: My mother says I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached to my body.

Premise/plot: When a swastika is painted on the walls of a small town middle school, well, prepare for quite a shake-up among the teachers and staff, the students, the parents and community at large. Who painted it...and why?

This middle grade novel has multiple narrators...mainly students, but not exclusively students. Together the pieces begin to fit together. But sometimes there are more questions than answers.

After the first swastika is painted, the students (eventually) come together (after weeks of tolerance training) and decide that action must be taken...and that action, well, it proves inspiring.

That action is making a paper chain with six million links. One link for every Jewish person who was killed/murdered/died during the Holocaust. In making this chain, the number begins to sink in...so many lives lost and each life mattered, each life ended too soon, each is to be remembered forever.

My thoughts: This one is contemporary realistic fiction set in a small Colorado town. Each narrator contributes to the big picture. I found it a compelling but frustrating read. I'll try to explain, there were certain things that frustrated me about how the story plays out. But I don't think you could call it unrealistic. In trying to understand the 'why' of how someone--someone their own age--could do this....perhaps there are no satisfactory reasons.

Of course, there is the WHO. I will not spoil the review. I won't. I think the only way to make it through this one is not to know who painted it...too soon. But my reaction to the story/plot changed as the story unfolded. I thought some elements of the story worked better than others.

I have so many thoughts on the WHO and how that story plays out. But I don't want to write a review that would spoil the book for new readers.

 

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