Double Negative in The Insecure Writer's Support Group Book Club

Jul 17, 2014 Beverly McClure rated it it was amazing

If life were fair, all children would have parents that loved and cared for them. Parents that helped them with their homework, made sure they had good food, and who listened to their troubles. Unfortunately, the world does not work that way. Many children’s mothers or fathers or both are drunkards, abusers, neglecters, and they just don’t care about their young ones.

Author C. Lee McKenzie’s YA novel, DOUBLE NEGATIVE, is the story of sixteen-year-old Hutch McQueen, one of the kids that gets by t ...more

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May 15, 2017 Jacqui rated it it was amazing

When we meet Hutchinson "Hutch" McQueen in C. Lee McKenzie's Double Negative (Evernight Teen 2014), he seems like a typical hopeless juvenile delinquent. He cares nothing about school, hangs out with the wrong people, and is always in trouble. Good riddance--right? Then we find out his mother hates him whether she's drunk or not. She beats him, threatens him, and blames him for her problems. His truckdriver father is kind enough but never home. Besides two parents who barely have time for him, i ...more

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Aug 27, 2017 J. Dorner rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, bout-of-books-20-aug-2017

I really enjoyed this book. I'm a "Catcher In The Rye" fan, so mentioning Holden Caulfield instantly wins bonus points with me! And I'm from PA, so the mention of Hershey's candy gets my chocolate heart all melty. But that's stuff that appeals to me, personally.

The characters are all written and developed with care. The reader is smack dab inside Hutch's messed-up head. He's a kid with problems. (Drunk, abusive mom, absentee dad, poverty and hunger, reading issues largely due to a need for eyeg ...more

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Jul 16, 2014 Yvonne Ventresca rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, fiction

Double Negative features a main character, Hutch, who struggles with high school (and the double negatives of grammar) along with the more serious problem of having an absent father and an abusive mother. The lack of parental supervision and any loving care forms a different type of double negative he must overcome. Desperate enough to steal rather than starve, Hutch makes a series of choices that will land him in jail unless he accepts help from a reformed-delinquent-turned priest and a retired ...more

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Dec 31, 2018 Michelle rated it it was amazing

I recognize the troubled persona because there is a Hutch McQueen in almost every class I teach.
The impact that people like Father Kerry and Maggie Scott have on the lives of these kids cannot be measured. The world needs more Father Kerrys and Maggie Scotts.

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Sep 04, 2014 Tyrean rated it really liked it

Wow! I just finished Double Negative five minutes ago, and now I'm sorting through that after the book "wow" moment.

C. Lee Mckenzie knows how to portray real people with real problems in real conversations and situations in a way that reels readers in and then takes them on an incredibly journey of the heart and mind.

Hutch is a gritty, attitude-filled teen with problems. At first, I was hesitant to go on a journey with him. He's tough and almost unlikeable until he shows his heart of gold undern ...more

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Jul 22, 2014 Bish Denham rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-s-lit, young-adult

Having worked with abused, neglected, and emotionally disturbed children for 23 years, Hutch's story is familiar and all too real. He is, at first, not a very likable character, but one can certainly sympathize with him. He has an alcoholic mother, an absent father, and no one to turn to except other kids who are basically in the same boat. On top of that, he hates school.

What I found most endearing is that even though Hutch acts and sounds like a mean tough, underneath lurks a naive and tender ...more

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