Book Review and Giveaway: Wrecker

'Wrecker'
Author: Summer Wood


Format: Hardback
Published: Bloomsbury USA; Feb. 2011
Pages: 304
Genre: Literary fiction
Grade: A
Source: TLC Book Tour


Synopsis: New Mexico author Wood follows Arroyo with this affecting novel about the rearing of a lovable boy named Wrecker (for his destructive tendencies), who carries the scars of being abandoned at age 3 when his penniless, clueless mother, Lisa Fay, went to prison for drugs. It's early 1969 when Wrecker's uncle, Len, whose wife is brain damaged from an infection, becomes aware of the heft of his guardianship responsibilities as he cares for Wrecker at the Bow Farm hippie commune on the Lost Coast section of Northern California. To "help him go forward," the eccentric residents--young, no-nonsense Southern belle Melody; plaid-clad mother-hen Ruthie; and independent, "short and furry" Johnny Appleseed--of this unconventional cloister take Wrecker into their collective arms. Wrecker is confused and troublesome, and over the years often runs away, but eventually comes to appreciate his alternative family. Complications emerge with a hasty adoption, Len's wife's pneumonia, Wrecker's burgeoning adolescence, and his estranged mother's eagerness to reclaim her teenage son when she's released from prison after almost 15 years, just as Wrecker might be moving past his need to reunite with her. 


My Take: One of my goals this year was to try to push out of my boundaries a little bit as a reader. I tend to get stuck in a rut, reading chick-lit and WWII historical fiction. I know it but I love it. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! When I was approached for this tour, I was sold on this book because the setting was in the "Bay Area". Granted, it's far outside the confines of the Bay Area, being for the most part in the Mattole River Valley which is near the Oregon Border but some of the action does take place in the San Francisco. And hey, you want to know a trick of how to sell a book to me? Tell me it's set in the Bay Area because honestly, I read the synopsis and I was like 'a bunch of hippies raising a kid'? Eh. Oh would I have been sorry to miss out on this treat!


What you may not know about me is, while I am not an ol' softie when it comes to hippies (hey, you live in the heart of San Francisco long enough, trust me you get a little jaded. The Summer of '69 is still happening here.), I am an ol' softie when it comes to cute little kids who don't have a place to call a home. If there was ever a kid who deserved a home and a shoulder to cry on, Wrecker's your guy!


We meet Wrecker when he is three-years-old and being picked up by his Uncle Len who has no idea what he has just gotten himself into other than he has a feeling he should do the right thing and give the kid a place to live. Wrecker's mom got herself locked up in jail for being a drug pusher. She loved her son dearly but you will learn throughout the book that sometimes love and good intentions aren't enough. Len lives in the middle of nowhere with his wife who is taking up all of his time because she has recently become brain damaged. Luckily, the aforementioned hippies moved in next door and they offer to help out for the time being!


So now the hippies live on Bow Farm. We all soon learn that they each came to this place with problems of their own so they accept the fact that Wrecker just kind of wanders into their lives. However they live on a big farm and are a bunch of random people really a proper family? Will they be able to fix the hurt that has already been caused in Wrecker's young life? Wrecker, as sweet as he may be, is no innocent, and if anyone knows three year old boys, he comes with an insane amount of energy. Someone needs to take ownership of him though and become his 'mother'. 


The story that unfolds will be so sweet and sometimes so heartbreaking, it is hard to read at times but so totally worth it! Books usually don't make me cry but this one definitely did and if you are a mother I can't even imagine you not loving this book!


Cover Lust: I kept flipping to this cover trying to get to know Wrecker just a little more! Totally loved the cover!


Giveaway Details!

Bloomsbury USA has kindly offered up one new copy to a lucky winner! The deadline for this giveaway is May 24th; entries open to those in the US and Canada.

To Enter (Mandatory)!
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3 extra entries available. Giveaway open until 11:59pm PST May 24th. I will draw the winners using random.org and announce them here on my blog. Good luck!

For other opinions about the book, here's the full TLC Tour Schedule:

Monday, April 18th:  Scraps of Life
Tuesday, April 19th:  Musings of an All Purpose Monkey
Thursday, April 21st:  Book Club Classics!
Friday, April 22nd:  Bloggin’ ‘Bout Books
Monday, April 25th:  In the Next Room 
Monday, April 25th:  In the Next Room 
Tuesday, April 26th:  Life in Review
Wednesday, April 27th:  Boarding in my Forties
Thursday, April 28th:  Red Headed Book Child
Monday, May 2nd:  Joyfully Retired
Thursday, May 5th:  Rundpinne
Monday, May 9th:  Caribousmom
Tuesday, May 10th:  Amused by Books
Wednesday, May 11th:  I’m Booking It