BAD BOY

Bad Boy, by Walter Dean Myers is a very difficult book for me to read.  I think part of my troubles originated in the very first chapter.  It was confusing, there were too many characters and it all seemed jumbled and unorganized to me.  Because I struggled so much with the first chapter I never had much desire for the remainder of the story.  Some of it of course was interesting, but there was nothing in this novel that kept me from putting it down, in fact it was the opposite for me; anything made me put it down.  Another possible reason for my uninterested reading of this novel could have been the time difference.  While I knew that it was a personal recollection of his life the entire time I had a hard time reading it that way.  Instead I read it as a more historical novel and at this point in the semester that is not what I want to be reading.  I did however think that it was interesting to get an insight to what social life was like in the 1940s and 50s.  I noticed the parental punishment was often beatings and I could sort of relate to that.  I AM NOT INCLUDING THIS IN MY BLOG BECAUSE I WANT PEOPLE TO THINK THAT MY PARENTS ABUSED ME OR ANYTHING.  When I was a child, if we did something wrong it was not out of the ordinary to get a hard swat on the ass.  While some people might try to argue that this is abuse or unnecessary I don’t think so.  I think that it was an effective way of getting me and my little brother to mind because we were smart enough to know that if we didn’t want to feel that pain again we had better not do whatever got use that beating again.  Some of the instances in the book though were a little graphic and brutal I do think though.  I thought it was really interesting to read about a young African American boy who grew up in Harlem fighting and reading.  Fighting and reading?  They seem like two completely unrelated things.  I just found it very interesting that Myers was such a profound student but was also violent and aggressive.  I think part of the reason that I enjoyed this aspect of the book was because it was one of the most relatable aspects for me.  When I was young I went through some pretty life altering events that happened in quick succession and it led to a violent streak from me.  I was constantly in fights in elementary school but I was also a great student, I always did my work and I was mostly ahead of my class.  I’m not saying that fighters can’t be readers or vice versa but I am saying that I don’t think it is all that common.  I have a hard time analyzing this book because I know that it is a personal memoir but I cant help but think that there were different perspectives and views that were left out of this story.  Overall I give it a C on the grade scale.  I struggled so much with it and it never really caught my attention.  It definitely didn’t take the place of any of my favorite books.  I do think that it would be a fun story to read as a historic text in a classroom setting but I don’t know that I would suggest it for pure enjoyment.