Being Henry David by Cal Armistead | Teen Ink

Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

January 8, 2013
By MarkRuff SILVER, Allen, South Dakota
MarkRuff SILVER, Allen, South Dakota
5 articles 3 photos 14 comments

Favorite Quote:
"In order for this system to work, they have to mine our minds to get at the essence of our spirit. This is the pollution, and it's a disease, and it lives and travels through the mind, through the generations." -John Trudell


The book "Being Henry David" by Cal Armistead is about a teenage boy who wakes up in New York City at Penn Station with nothing in his possession, besides ten dollars and the book, "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau. He doesn't remember who he is, or where he's from.
I liked the light, sarcastic overtones throughout the book, because this is something that young readers really enjoy and search for. Armistead has very interesting descriptions. The conclusion was disturbingly beautiful.
A sentence that stuck out to me was when Jack said, "Choosing life means choosing pain, and I'm not strong enough", (301) because its honest and inspirational.
I would advice Armistead to stay away from repeated descriptions. I feel like Armistead fails to show Hank's emotion and shock in the beginning. She also fails to pick up the pace at times to avoid losing the reader.
Overall, I would recommend this book to young readers. I give this book four stars. I would recommend this book to nature, book, and mystery lovers.


The author's comments:
I am thankful to Cindy and Teenink for giving me this amazing oppurtunity to read unpublished work. Its always been a hope of mine.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.