Life as you know it can change in a moment. In the time it takes two teenage boys to go up to an attic to get the Halloween decorations...
...and find a gun...
...a loaded gun...
Now 17-year-old Jonah is bedridden, unable to move or speak, being kept alive by machines, and cared for round the clock by nurses. And the boys' families, across the road neighbors and formerly friends, are on opposite sides of a lawsuit.
Liv, narrator of Betty Culley's Three Things I Know Are True, is Jonah's younger sister. She's the only one in the family who can see Jonah's underlying personality struggling to shine through. Her father is dead. Her mother expends a lot of energy dealing with the logistics of Jonah's care but spends little time actually with him. Liv has figured out what his sounds and limited gestures mean. She's the one the nurses consult when they don't know what to do...
...She's also protecting her mother. As the trial nears there is a lot of contention between people who fear their second amendment rights being taken away and people fearing their lives being taken by the wrong person with access to guns. Liv "steals" the family's newspaper if it contains opinion peices her mom might find triggering...
...which is a lot of responsibility for a high school sophomore. Liv can't concentrate in school and is in danger of being held back.
...And Liv has her secrets. While her mother has declared Clay (the boy whose father owned the loaded gun) and his family the enemy, she takes a more nuanced approach. She knows that he loved Jonah and will probably carry guilt for the rest of his life. They continue their friendship in secret.
This poignant novel is highly engaging and empathic both in regard to the humanity of Jonah and his challenged and grieving family. Culley is a nurse who has worked in pediatric home hospice. She has just the background to avoid the clichés and write honestly and authenticly.
Three Things I Know Are True also deals with an issue teens, who have grown up going through active shooter drills while seeing state and national legislators refuse to enact laws that would make schools safer, are very much invested in. Therefore, I highly recommend the book not only for individual reading for its target demographic and way beyond but also for parent-teen book clubs and as a replacement for one of the far from golden oldies in high school literature classes.
On a purrrsonal note, on Thursday evening the Orono Public Library had a family concert in the outdoor amphitheater to celebrate the end of the school year. The weather was perfect. People and their dogs had a fine time. Of course I was the paparazzi. I got some really good pictures.
A great big shout out goes out to all participants and the people who brought the event together.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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