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Bloodline
In his junior year, seventeen-year-old Abraham learns how to drive a stick shift. He falls in love for the first time. And he has been in three fights and suspended twice, all before Thanksgiving. His grandmother and her girlfriend, the ones who have raised him, fear for his life and the hard future that awaits him. "He needs a father," his grandmother says. "He needs a man. I can't do this, Becky. We can't. Not on our own."
Soon, his Uncle Claudio the son with a fat police file who has hurt his mother so many times is back in the house. Determined to make a man of his nephew, he takes the boy to the gym and shows him how to use free weights and become bigger and stronger. Meanwhile, Abraham's feelings for his friend Ophelia grow, and she tries to understand why he fights. "This will end badly," she warns. "Nothing good can come from this."
At school, Abraham learns about genetics, and he wonders if people are born bad. Is it in their DNA? Was he born to punch and kick and scream and fight and destroy things because of the genes in his body? Is that what happened to his father? All he knows is that his father is dead and his mother is gone. In Joe Jimenez's striking debut novel for teens, a young man struggles with his family's refusal to talk about the violence that has plagued it and what it means to become a man. Does a boy need a father to become a good man?
Soon, his Uncle Claudio the son with a fat police file who has hurt his mother so many times is back in the house. Determined to make a man of his nephew, he takes the boy to the gym and shows him how to use free weights and become bigger and stronger. Meanwhile, Abraham's feelings for his friend Ophelia grow, and she tries to understand why he fights. "This will end badly," she warns. "Nothing good can come from this."
At school, Abraham learns about genetics, and he wonders if people are born bad. Is it in their DNA? Was he born to punch and kick and scream and fight and destroy things because of the genes in his body? Is that what happened to his father? All he knows is that his father is dead and his mother is gone. In Joe Jimenez's striking debut novel for teens, a young man struggles with his family's refusal to talk about the violence that has plagued it and what it means to become a man. Does a boy need a father to become a good man?
131 pages, Paperback
Published May 30, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 15, 2016
I received several advanced titles from the publisher a while back and just randomly picked out Bloodline to read. So glad I did. The author, Joe Jimenez, is a remarkable storyteller. The tale of 17-year-old Abraham is told in second person--in other words, YOU are Abraham. Normally, I shy away from books like this, but the writing is so compelling, so beautiful, I was soon deeply absorbed into the story. Bloodline is about a boy from a rough neighborhood and a broken family. But Abraham's tender heart is revealed through his love for his girlfriend, Ophelia, and the lyrical language in which he relates his life. I was hooked from the first page, and my heart nearly imploded on the last. Warning: Read this with a box of tissue nearby. Bloodline is sure to haunt me for years to come. A very powerful five stars!
November 6, 2018
I'm torn between a 3 and 4. Probably because I got to see Joe Jimenez speak at a book festival and he shared some ideas and concepts around the writing of this book that I feel make it more interesting. Sort of the way that the songexploder podcast often illuminates hidden layers of a song that you didn't know were there and make you appreciate the concept of a song. I appreciate the concept of this book as a retelling of Hamlet for reluctant readers in high school classrooms who are often tasked with reading books that do not reflect them or their reality. Which then makes it more apt that the book is told in second person narration.
I also liked that some of the narration was abstractly beautiful, despite the academic struggles of the narrator, sort of like there was a ghost floating around the story (in addition to the dad's haunting mystique) that would swoop in and leave a pretty trail on the narration.
So, why just the 3? I guess because I feel like it was a slight book, both physically and in a reading experience. I feel like at 131 pages, just when I'd gotten into the rhythm of the story and truly began liking and rooting for Abram, and Ophelia, and Grandma, the story careens to a close. So, hard to knock it, because I know what the book is meant to do, but I wanted it to be longer and take me on the journey of a fuller novel.
I know Joe Jimenez is teaching, and that it's hard to maintain an active writing life. But hopefully he has time to do more, because he's a talented writer, and I'm looking for something else from him.
I also liked that some of the narration was abstractly beautiful, despite the academic struggles of the narrator, sort of like there was a ghost floating around the story (in addition to the dad's haunting mystique) that would swoop in and leave a pretty trail on the narration.
So, why just the 3? I guess because I feel like it was a slight book, both physically and in a reading experience. I feel like at 131 pages, just when I'd gotten into the rhythm of the story and truly began liking and rooting for Abram, and Ophelia, and Grandma, the story careens to a close. So, hard to knock it, because I know what the book is meant to do, but I wanted it to be longer and take me on the journey of a fuller novel.
I know Joe Jimenez is teaching, and that it's hard to maintain an active writing life. But hopefully he has time to do more, because he's a talented writer, and I'm looking for something else from him.
September 24, 2017
3.5
Gorgeous prose, but dialogue needs some work.
Gorgeous prose, but dialogue needs some work.
December 18, 2018
Definitely worth the read. Beautifully poetic and speaks to the heart of masculinity. The narration makes sense at the end of the book.
October 6, 2016
3.25 stars.
This book has extremely beautiful prose, which is the main reason to recommend it—it's very easy to tell that the author is also a poet, yet it never once feels overwrought and the dialogue flows naturally in contrast to the more poetic style. It's easy to like Abram and feel pain for his struggle, even though we have no idea what path he's going to find himself on. The questions the book brings up about what it is to be a good man are truly fascinating, and not really something explored in YA very often.
The ending, however, makes it hard for me to really recommend this one. To be blunt: If you're looking for a read with any uplift in it whatsoever, you won't find it here, and while I've read some books that pulled such a thing off really well, this one ends up with a sort of Diabolus ex Machina feel going on, which I didn't like at all.
Regardless, it's definitely an interesting title different from a lot of YA out there, and even though I don't know what kind of teen would go to it on their own I definitely do think it has potential to be a cult favorite for a certain type of YA reader (as well as crossover appeal for adult readers of YA).
This book has extremely beautiful prose, which is the main reason to recommend it—it's very easy to tell that the author is also a poet, yet it never once feels overwrought and the dialogue flows naturally in contrast to the more poetic style. It's easy to like Abram and feel pain for his struggle, even though we have no idea what path he's going to find himself on. The questions the book brings up about what it is to be a good man are truly fascinating, and not really something explored in YA very often.
The ending, however, makes it hard for me to really recommend this one. To be blunt: If you're looking for a read with any uplift in it whatsoever, you won't find it here, and while I've read some books that pulled such a thing off really well, this one ends up with a sort of Diabolus ex Machina feel going on, which I didn't like at all.
Regardless, it's definitely an interesting title different from a lot of YA out there, and even though I don't know what kind of teen would go to it on their own I definitely do think it has potential to be a cult favorite for a certain type of YA reader (as well as crossover appeal for adult readers of YA).
September 26, 2016
YA FICTION
Joe Jiménez
Bloodline
Piñata Books (an imprint of Arte Público Press)
Paperback, 978-1-55885-828-2, 132 pgs., $11.95
May 30, 2016
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? —Mary Oliver
Abram is seventeen, living with his grandmother in San Antonio. His father died when he was three years old — no one will tell him how or why — and his devastated and overwhelmed mother left soon after. Abram has had four fights and two suspensions this school year, and it’s not yet Thanksgiving. His grandmother is distraught; she worries that Abram needs a man to model male adulthood for him, that her example, love, and care cannot suffice. She lost Abram’s father; she will not lose him, too. Enter Tío Claudio, bombastic, volatile, manipulative, and avaricious.
Bloodline is the debut novel from Joe Jiménez. This slim volume of young adult fiction is rich in emotion and language, diving deep into the perilous psychological territory of violence, harboring a final plot twist that caused me to fall silent and still.
The plot of Bloodline is simple, the pace steady. Jiménez employs a second-person point of view for Abram’s narrative, for reasons that aren’t clear until near the end of the story. It’s a difficult narrative mode, but elegant and haunting in this writer’s hand. The characters are relatable and complex — notably Abram and his girlfriend, the smart, red-headed Ophelia — and allowed a good deal of further development. Jiménez portrays the essence of Abram’s grandmother through her physicality, her “voice like a hand smoothing out a bedsheet.” We can gauge the atmosphere in the house by the grandmother’s hands.
Jiménez is a poet, which is evident on almost every page of Bloodline. Abram was so young when his father died that he has very few memories of him. Trying to remember is like “digging far into the memories,” Jiménez writes, “with nothing but the spoon of your want.” Ophelia’s smile “is a valise in which so much is held.” Jiménez’ work is for lovers of language.
On a wall in the hallway of the small house hangs a painting of St. Michael conquering a demon. This painting serves as a metaphor for Abram’s struggle. Is he St. Michael or the demon? Abram is alternately petrified and excited by approaching manhood, aching to know the mystery of his father and his death. Was he a good man? Was he a bad man? Abram is terrified of the answer and what it means for his future. Which is paramount: nature or nurture?
Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.
Joe Jiménez
Bloodline
Piñata Books (an imprint of Arte Público Press)
Paperback, 978-1-55885-828-2, 132 pgs., $11.95
May 30, 2016
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? —Mary Oliver
Abram is seventeen, living with his grandmother in San Antonio. His father died when he was three years old — no one will tell him how or why — and his devastated and overwhelmed mother left soon after. Abram has had four fights and two suspensions this school year, and it’s not yet Thanksgiving. His grandmother is distraught; she worries that Abram needs a man to model male adulthood for him, that her example, love, and care cannot suffice. She lost Abram’s father; she will not lose him, too. Enter Tío Claudio, bombastic, volatile, manipulative, and avaricious.
Bloodline is the debut novel from Joe Jiménez. This slim volume of young adult fiction is rich in emotion and language, diving deep into the perilous psychological territory of violence, harboring a final plot twist that caused me to fall silent and still.
The plot of Bloodline is simple, the pace steady. Jiménez employs a second-person point of view for Abram’s narrative, for reasons that aren’t clear until near the end of the story. It’s a difficult narrative mode, but elegant and haunting in this writer’s hand. The characters are relatable and complex — notably Abram and his girlfriend, the smart, red-headed Ophelia — and allowed a good deal of further development. Jiménez portrays the essence of Abram’s grandmother through her physicality, her “voice like a hand smoothing out a bedsheet.” We can gauge the atmosphere in the house by the grandmother’s hands.
Jiménez is a poet, which is evident on almost every page of Bloodline. Abram was so young when his father died that he has very few memories of him. Trying to remember is like “digging far into the memories,” Jiménez writes, “with nothing but the spoon of your want.” Ophelia’s smile “is a valise in which so much is held.” Jiménez’ work is for lovers of language.
On a wall in the hallway of the small house hangs a painting of St. Michael conquering a demon. This painting serves as a metaphor for Abram’s struggle. Is he St. Michael or the demon? Abram is alternately petrified and excited by approaching manhood, aching to know the mystery of his father and his death. Was he a good man? Was he a bad man? Abram is terrified of the answer and what it means for his future. Which is paramount: nature or nurture?
Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.
September 15, 2016
An authentic coming of age story. After it ended we realize that the writing is from Abram's journal. The story is deals with difficult family dynamics. There is violence surrounding Abraham at school and from his uncle. There is also the crazed violence inside Abraham. The fury he keeps inside, reined in but unable to control when pushed. Also in his life is the sweet Ophelia who brings beauty and the possibility of a sane future. But really what stands out in this book is the incredible writing. "...Ophelia's hair. The color of sunsets and cinnamon. ...her head falls onto your shoulder like a warm shadow..." This book is like a walk through the senses with a modern day Walt Witman.
September 9, 2016
I felt conflicted about this story. It was beautifully written at times and the figurative language added ten pounds to the page at other times. I spent the entire story waiting for 'the other shoe to drop.' It felt like work and it filled me with dread. It is a very good story but I didn't like it. It really was a very good story...just not the story for me.
June 28, 2017
Lyrical and heart-breaking. Jimenez takes the cliched image of a fight-prone, angry teenage boy and blows him full to life with the poetry of his soul. The combination of a Abraham's sense that something wonderful is about to happen through his love of Ophelia and the dread that clings to the reappearance of his uncle keeps this short book taut and moving.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews