Reach

by Hugh Brown

Raised by octogenarian grandparents after his narcissistic mother left to join a retreat centre, Will Clark is an uncomfortable mix of teenage shyness and adult candour. Fiercely loyal to his mother, he resents his father, whom he blames for her leaving. Convinced his Year Twelve classmates think he's a loser, he retreats into the imaginary world of fantasy novels every chance he gets, entertaining himself between times with fantasy takes on the real life around him, with himself cast as the hero Superclerk. But, try as he might, Will can't keep reality at bay. As his first full-contact taekwondo fight looms ever closer, Woody the bull-necked prop starts bullying him, and his grandfather is taken to hospital with suspected cancer. And when his mother returns, his schoolmates begin treating him as if he's their friend - and Conway, the girl of his dreams, starts treating him like more than a friend - and Will is forced to question his vision of himself and his version of reality. Finally he musters the courage to join his peers, confront Woody, talk to Conway, and accept his parents for who they are.

Genres: Young Adult

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2012

About the author

After completing an honours degree in English Literature, Hugh decided he would like to write books that people would enjoy reading. A few years later, after reading lots of Margaret Mahy stories to his daughter, he started writing for younger readers. Hugh lives on the Kapiti Coast with his children. He is an editor too much of the time and a writer not enough of the time. The rest of the time he’s being a dad, cooking, gardening and playing his ukulele (sometimes all at the same time).

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, I would like to say that there is not 'a way that teenagers talk to each other'. I have heard a few that actually sound quite literate - so, for me, the teenage conversation was fine. (Perhaps I could read it as a translation of what they actually said!) The thing I found most surreal about this book was that there was not a cellphone, facebook page or electronic device involved. Technologically speaking, this book was set in the 70's. Evocatively. And I liked that.

Will is a Year 12 boy who lives with his grandparents since his mother left to join a commune 5 years ago. His father, Bill, (and yes that can get a bit confusing) parents a bit like a hawk - Will says, 'Dad's like that - circles around in the hills by himself most of the time, then every now and then he lands nearby, stares at you, silent and fierce, then he's up and gone again.' Will sees himself as a nerdy bookworm, and this is further verified when Woody (a rugby player of course) starts to bully Will at school. At about the same time, Will meets Conway, a new girl at school, and the daughter of a Guidance Counsellor that he has a bit of an unfortunate conversation with when she queries his lateness to school each day. In typical teenage fashion he decides to play with her a little, because he can, without further thought to how the mother of a girl he likes might interpret what he says. Also, Will's mother is now back in the country, and Will, having idealised her to bits, wants to visit her, feeling that she would understand him better than anyone, and help to put things right. (We all know how that's going to turn out, right?) Conway appears to show interest in Will, and then backs off (mysteriously to Will, but obvious to the reader), Will learns martial arts and then one day Woody turns up...and - you get the picture.

This book is not about the plot. It's about the telling of the story. It celebrates language and plays with it all the time. Perky, Will's best friend, speaks like a thesaurus, 'A miniscule sun, a tiny luteous orb' is how he describes a ball of earwax plucked from his ear. When he flicks the wax, it lands on the board between red and wheelbarrow - William Carlos Williams. Perky is quirky - no doubt about that, but as he says himself, it's a pose - a defence mechanism, 'Don't worry, the dean's very nice. We're great friends, though of course she is somewhat concerned about my extreme attention-seeking behaviour. But hell, people who live in glasshouses shouldn't shoot skeet.'

Young Will is inclined to a bit of verbal virtuosity himself, for example, when milking Hex, the cow (an hilarious scene), sounding almost Shakespearean, 'set your foot, a hex on you, set your foot, poxy cow,' he crooned. In maths, a parabola turns into a poem

Why
equals rain, squared
plus sun? Cloud mountains
roil and mound.
Why equals
rai...

This book is such an interesting mix of ideas that every time I think about it, something else comes to mind. Of course it brings to mind Atwood's 'The Blind Assassin', having a novel within a novel, but also, 'A Handmaid's Tale', with the dystopian, repressive society represented in Will's journal. Narcissus, from Greek mythology who turns into a daffodil, staring into the beautiful reflection of himself in the pond, is the tongue-in-cheek way Brown shows Will's self-absorbed mother. In a more 'boy' way, though, how can we not think of the Marvel comics - Clark Kent being brought up in the country, on a farm, with his 'grandparents'. It's interesting that it is Conway, a girl, who is obsessed with the graphic novels - most books would have the boys reading the graphic novels and the girls being the book worms. But then Conway is an artist. At times, Conway is drawn as a character from a graphic novel - when she mimics the finch-like behaviour of her mother, 'she pursed her lips, put her head on one side and made her eyes round and glassy' makes her sound more like a Manga than a person, or a finch!

Maybe this is a new form of fantasy writing - set in the here and now - but in a parallel universe where we still drive Valiants and Vdubs, listen to Elvis and have grandmothers who bake endless delectable delights - some of which I haven't tasted for years. Reading this nearly made me run for my other great Kiwi classic - the Edmonds Cookbook - to bake an Albert cake - whatever that is...and some ginger crunch (not mentioned in this book, but the best thing my mum used to bake on Saturday mornings, while Dad and my older brother were mowing the lawns.) And this book does evoke that time.

Is it too removed from reality - I'm not sure. After all, as this book points out in so many different ways, what is reality? Is it what we experience, is it what people experience of us, is it the reality we build to protect ourselves, is it the reality that dawns on us piece by piece as we put the bits of the puzzle together. This book is perhaps a meditation on life, 'the point of meditation isn't to get to a place where you have no thoughts, but where you aren't involved in them. Where you're separate, able to observe them, or not, at your leisure.'

I'm off to offer it as a possibility to my RR, without telling him any of this, of course. I'm pretty sure he'll just enjoy the story.

Read some of my other reviews here

[Catherine Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's such a challenge to create a believable, sympathetic teenage protagonist but Brown has managed it. Will is just the right mix: sweet but resilient, eager but reserved, hurt but generous and loving. Each of the supporting characters is equally well picked out - his grandparents (who have cared for him since his mother left and his father could not cope) are delicious. Would that we all had grandparents like them. Will's coming of age journey flirts with the cliches of first love and testing in the sporting arena, a la Karate Kid - but it approaches them from such a refreshing angle, and with such humour and verve in the characters and the language that they seem sparkling new. The emotion in the book is deeply felt and honest, and I have to admit I cried throughout the whole chapter when Will realises that his long-absent mother has perhaps not been what he'd always believed her to be. Highly recommended.

[Adele Broadbent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will is a self confessed geek who is into running on his grandparent’s farm and taekwondo. His mum left for a commune in Australia when he was eleven, leaving him with his dad who just couldn’t cope. Will now lives with his grandparents.

He’s not confident at school, except with his best mate Tim (Perky), but he has to find his confidence when the girl he likes starts to talk to him.

Winner of the Tessa Duder Award for Young Adult Fiction - this is a story about family, dealing with other people’s decisions when they affect you too, and building confidence. A great snapshot of realism which is refreshing in bookshelves full of dystopia, vampires and zombies.

[Selah Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book just had a sense of, I dunno, lightness about it. Which is kinda strange, cause it's not really a light kinda book, but one teenagers struggle in life. But I really liked it. It was very well written (which is why it won an award...), and it just kept me hooked all through the story. It is mainly a story for boys, but I liked it too.

[Lillias Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of rich detail and nostalgic moments, an NZ classic

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm always pleased when there is a good book out for NZ boys. I really felt this could have been a great book, the relationships between the main character and his grandparents is just great, same with his Dad, even the relationship with his best friend is great. Loved Hex the cow! There are great passages in it, especially when Will is alone in the hills with his thoughts. Then it has some moments where a big red pen could have slashed and burned the conversations between the teenagers, and the conversations with the Mum as wel,l and the journal. Will himself is great, his thoughts, his attitudes are really well done but the constant jarring and irritating intrusion of the journal meant that I skipped all that. It wasn't necessary for the story and it made me cranky.

A book that had huge potential and which I bought because Kate de Goldi recommended it, left me disappointed that it wasn't consistent enough. What a shame. This authors next book though, I'm sure, will be much much better because he can write for teenagers, he perhaps needs to run the book past some current (and critical) teenagers to check it for it's teenage conversation first. Disappointed.

[Wendy Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Will Clark thinks he's a socially inept bookworm who just happens to enjoy cross-country running and taekwondo. But then his mother returns after a five-year absence overseas, and he has his first full-contact taekwondo fight, and the gorgeous comic-reading Conway Jones asks if she can be his maths tutor... Will must reassess himself, and his past, as he reaches towards a new future and lets his dreams take flight." (book cover)

My take: Shy boy who has been living with his grandparents since his parents separated comes to realise his perception of his father is a bit off the mark when he reconnects with his estranged mother. And wonders why a boy at school stopped bullying him as suddenly as he'd started, until a girl who is becoming more than a friend fills him in on some of her own history.

I recommend this book, of course! It was an enjoyable read with believable characters. And Will's grandparents are fabulous; we should all be so lucky!

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I micah found this book to be an easy read because it is based in New Zealand and most of the terms and phrases I could understand. This book is about a sixteen year old boy named Will who is stumbling across the path called Life. In this book he dosent really do anything at all and honestly just goes on a trip to see his Mum and doesnt go home happily but otherwise the small parts in this book were pretty awesome it had me hooked most of the time. I recommmed this book to 13 to 15 year olds as some of the language in the book is not appropiate

[Belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book just had a sense of, I dunno, lightness about it. Which is kinda strange, cause it's not really a light kinda book, but one teenagers struggle in life. But I really liked it. It was very well written (which is why it won an award...), and it just kept me hooked all through the story. It is mainly a story for boys, but I liked it too.

[Matthew Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA isn't my usual thing but I know Hugh so had to read it. Was glad I did; I now know Hugh a whole lot better. It's heart warming with a slight edge of the New Zealand rural gothic about it.