November 10, 2014
In this haunting tale of grief and recovery, 17-year-old Andrew Brawley lives like a ghost in the sprawling wings of Roanoke General Hospital, working in the cafeteria, visiting patients, and borrowing what he needs to get by. When he’s not trying to play matchmaker for his friends Lexi and Trevor—both battling cancer—he’s talking to nurses or working on his comic, Patient F, all while avoiding the tragic circumstances that took his family and left him behind. When Rusty, a boy badly burned by homophobic bullies, enters the hospital, Drew finds the courage to reach out, find love, and confront his deep-rooted guilt and confusion. Hutchinson (fml) takes some liberties with Drew’s unusual day-to-day circumstances, but spins an engrossing story, with Drew’s perceptions lending it an almost surreal, supernatural quality (such as his seeing Death around the hospital and fearing that she’s come for him). The narrative is further developed by violent excerpts from Patient F, skillfully drawn by Larsen, through which Drew tries to exorcise his demons. Ages 14–up. Author’s agent: Amy Boggs, Donald Maass Literary Agency.
July 1, 2015
After his family dies in an accident, Drew can't leave the hospital where he last saw them. To maintain the ruse, Drew befriends (and deceives) hospital employees while forging friendships with teen patients--including cancer-stricken lovebirds and the victim of a brutal hate crime. Although Drew is an interesting protagonist, the implausible premise and overwritten narration bog down his story.
(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
November 1, 2014
Gr 10 Up-Narrator Andrew is a 17-year-old survivor of a terrible car accident that killed his parents and younger sister. He blames himself, is consumed by survivor's guilt, and is on the run from his life, hiding out in a half-finished wing of the hospital where they died. One night, Rusty, another boy his age, arrives in the ER, the apparent victim of a hate crime, badly burned over much of his body. Andrew begins visiting him late at night, reading first from his own comic, Patient F, and then from novels lent to him by the cafeteria manager. The boys come to realize a powerful attraction for one another and Andrew begins to open up to love and forgiveness. The portrayal of his new life is intriguing as readers follow the teen as he works in the cafeteria, makes friends with nurses and patients (particularly two cancer-afflicted teens), and visits and debates with the hospital chaplain, managing to flesh out a supportive shadow community in the absence of his family. The budding romance with Rusty is sensitively portrayed. But the tone through much of the novel is suffocatingly dark, the language cliched and florid. Sentiments such as, "hope is a scam" and "suffering is deserved," quickly bog down the narrative. Chapters are interspersed with excerpts from Andrew's comic, which is difficult to follow but even darker than the text and disconcertingly severe. The few sexual references are fairly tame, but repeated violence and dense emotional situations make this title best suited for older teens.-Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA
Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
November 1, 2014
A homeless, gay teen finds shelter and hope in the hospital where his family perished. Traumatized by their loss, 17-year-old Drew bides his time working in the kitchen of a suburban hospital. He lives in an abandoned wing and slips in and out of the halls and staff-only areas under the pretense that his grandmother is in a coma. He befriends two teens sick with cancer and finds himself opening up and falling for a gay teen admitted into the emergency room after being set on fire in a hate crime. At the same time Drew pens a gruesome comic strip called "Patient F" to exorcise his own demons and guilt; drawn by Larsen, this effectively communicates his interior turmoil, heightening it to near-grotesque levels over the course of the story. Hutchinson builds believable secondary characters and presents unexpectedly fresh plotting and genuine repartee-the conversations among Drew and his two teen friends feel particularly real and are full of insight and humor. Hutchinson has trouble finding Drew's own voice, however, both in the text and in the comics he draws, especially when he retreats into his own depression ("The hospital is my ocean. I am its Francis Drake"). However, the story resumes its momentum when he encounters other characters. A cautionary twist toward the end may induce eye-rolling. Hutchinson remains an author worth watching. (Fiction. 13-17)
COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
December 15, 2014
Grades 9-12 Hutchinson's latest is an unflinching look at loss, grief, and recovery. Seventeen-year-old Drew Brawley has been hiding from death for months in the Florida hospital where the rest of his family died. He passes the time working at the cafeteria and making friends with teen patients in the oncology ward. Drew has been working on a graphic novel, a disturbing story called Patient F that hints at the trauma he has been desperately trying to keep buried. The comic, interspersed throughout the text, provides a visual punctuation mark to Drew's guilt and self-loathing. When he begins to fall for Rusty, a hate-crime victim admitted to the hospital after having been set on fire, Drew's resolve to live his life ghosting about the hospital begins to waver. Dark and frequently grim situations are lightened by realistic dialogue and genuineness of feeling. The rapid-fire back-and-forth snark between Drew and his hospital family rings true, and the mystery of Drew's past will keep readers turning the pages. This is a heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful work from a writer to watch.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)