From the Bookshelf of Bound Together…

Crooked Grow the Trees

Carmel Hanes

Start date: September 22, 2020

Finish date: September 22, 2020

Discussion: Buddy Reads

Discussion leader: Cathrine ☯️

Why we're reading this: Buddy Read
starts Sept 1st thru Sept 22nd
[close] Buddy Read
starts Sept 1st thru Sept 22nd

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 1 topics — 412 comments total

Buddy Reads

* How this works/Find a Buddy
By ♥ Sandi ❣ , Me! ~~ on a good day · 174 posts · 335 views

last updated Sep 28, 2021 10:32AM

Buddy Read - Dinosaurs July 2024
By ☕Laura · 14 posts · 17 views

last updated Jul 30, 2024 06:21PM

showing 6 of 6 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 03, 2020 Angela M rated it really liked it

Carmel Hanes has written a moving novel, an eye opener for me in many ways, a story that brought me to a place and with characters that really were not very familiar to me. Dalton Corrections Center is populated with troubled teenage boys and while we never really know why they are there, we do discover a little about the burdens they carry, where they came from and by the end of the book I came away with a different perspective, one that is more sympathetic to those I don’t necessarily understa
Carmel Hanes has written a moving novel, an eye opener for me in many ways, a story that brought me to a place and with characters that really were not very familiar to me. Dalton Corrections Center is populated with troubled teenage boys and while we never really know why they are there, we do discover a little about the burdens they carry, where they came from and by the end of the book I came away with a different perspective, one that is more sympathetic to those I don’t necessarily understand. I was particularly moved by one of the teenage boys, D’Vrae whose mother died of overdose, has a father in prison, and is a boy who has been shuffled from relative to relative, in unstable situations. No wonder he’s angry and untrusting.

Sophia is a counselor at the Dalton facility and it is through her dedication and caring and real desire to help bring these boys to a better place in their lives, that we come to know that their situations are complex. Through Sophia, we learn that it’s not enough to just think that these individuals are all the same and should be treated the same, punishing them instead of helping them, as some of the people on the staff at the facility believe. I love that she looked for “Signs of humanity beneath inhumane behavior, evidence of vulnerability beneath the uncaring toughness, pliable soil beneath the crust hardened by unmet needs and pain, fertile ground upon which to build.”

The story is tense with gut wrenching scenes of confrontation between the boys, between the staff and the boys and the ominous presence of an unnamed disturbed individual whose presence lurks in chapters dedicated to him. Sophia’s family story is an integral part of the novel as well. We know that there is something in her past that haunts her, and I wondered what in Sophia’s past makes her relate to these boys, care so much about wanting to give them a chance. Her story unfolds as she and her siblings deal with the death of their father. It is through her family history that we get a better sense of her and a better understanding that we never really can know what experiences in one’s past have shaped them into the person they are. I was saddened, heartened, enlightened and ultimately moved by this story.

...more

71 likes · Like · see review

Sep 23, 2020 Pat rated it it was amazing

Extremely poignant and revelatory regarding young men brought up in dire circumstances pretty much left on their own and ending up incarceration where the violence does not end. Sophia tries valiantly to help them make better decision while dealing with her own demons.

Like · see review