I don't think I can handle this

So I'm just going to say it: I really hate the book. No, it's not because of the writing style, no it's not because of the little kid (though I don't really like little kids), it's because of the stuff being mentioned.

So this 5 year old and his 27 year old mom are stuck in this super tiny room. After doing a search on Google, I found a picture somebody had of what the room might look like: http://lhdreviews.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/room1.png and I'm just going to say, without that picture, I wouldn't have been able to even begin to imagine what the room would look like. If I were stuck in a room like that, I would go crazy, and I'm amazed the mother hasn't already.

It's been stated that they're both malnourished and the mom's teeth are rotting. I think it's stated that they're also in a tiny shed, so it probably gets ridiculously hot in there. I don't know, just the fact that there's people being kept (presumably against the mother's will) in a tiny room in what I think could definitely be considered sub-human (is it one word or hyphenated?) conditions. This is some pretty dark stuff, and I'm really uncomfortable reading this.

Then there's how Jack's innocence makes him view things in unique ways. He can only hear the sounds of Old Nick and his mom having sex, and he just describes the process as Old Nick making the bed squeak a lot and then makes a "gaspy sound"...This is also something that really bothers me, because from what I can tell, the only reason Jack's mom doesn't resist is because she can get the essentials for Jack, and hearing his "innocent" description of what she has to do just really...rubs me the wrong way. I'm not saying I hate Jack or anything, I'm just saying the depiction does make me very unhappy.

There was a mention today in class of whether or not solitary confinement should be considered torture. I think so. From my limited knowledge of human development and all that good stuff, I know that babies need to be touched at least once a day and have some sort of human interaction or they won't develop properly. I also know that people in solitary confinement can and will go crazy given enough time. Humans are social creatures, and so it makes sense that without social interaction, bad things can happen. I'm amazed that Jack's mom hasn't gone crazy, because I assume she's been in the room longer than Jack's been alive, and so she's somehow stayed sane. I think it might've been easier for her once Jack was born, because then she would have been able to have another human to interact with on a daily basis.

Actually, it's not really the book I hate. I'm amazed how the author's able to accurately portray a five year old and manage to show their point of view in a convincing way. But the plot is just really dark and I feel a bit disturbed when reading it. If I could get away with never reading the book I would, but since I can't, I'll just deal with it. So that's all I really have to say about the book so far...

Smithy is Literally Divinity

So I'm convinced that there's actually some god or goddess helping out Smithy. Either that or he's a god in disguise.

First off, he's survived everything thrown at him. The guy's been shot MULTIPLE times, and has survived it all. Sure, he had somebody to help him in Vietnam, but that meant he didn't die immediately, which is still impressive.

Then there's the fact that's he was some fat, chain-smoking, alcoholic who hadn't worked out in years. This same guy decided to get on his bike and start riding it across the country. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure not doing any kinds of rigorous activity for a while and doing something really rigorous suddenly is a good way to give yourself a heart attack. Smithy wasn't even fit, yet doesn't get a heart attack. I blame it on Athena's divine intervention.

He also gets beaten so severely that he pees himself. I don't understand how he's totally fine. Is it luck? Or is Smithy just unable to get hurt too badly after having a bunch of holes in him? There's also the fact that he's hit by a car, and ends up totally fine. The people at the Emergency Room don't even do anything for Smithy, he washes himself off, goes into an examining room, and rubs antibacterial cream on himself. How doesn't he get caught? Obviously Athena was shrouding Smithy so nobody would notice him.

Lastly, in part of his journey, Smithy decides to take a nap. Okay, nothing wrong with that, but when he wakes up, THERE'S A BLIZZARD. You do not wake up during a Blizzard and come out totally fine, other than some cut on his neck from a bullet.

I don't know if I'm just being really anal about all of this, but I don't think Smithy should be perfectly fine. These incidents I listed, to me, seem to be instances where Smithy should have died. In each of these instances, Smithy comes out relatively fine. That's why I'm convinced there's only two explanations for this. Either Smithy is being helped every step of his journey by Athena, or Smithy is actually immortal, and so he doesn't need to worry about being injured because he can't die from the injuries.

Smithy's Luck is Like Anse's...maybe

I think Smithy's luck is like Anse's, because they both have terrible luck and even when they try to help out in a situation they make everything worse. It makes me pity both of them, except when I think of Smithy, I want his luck to get better, but when I think of Anse, I want him to go die in a hole.

As far as I can remember, Smithy's had two bad incidents when trying to help somebody.

The first time was with Carl. Sure, he came out on top in the end, but before that it was terrible. He was hit by the dude's car, had his bike broken, and had to patch himself up. Then, when he agrees to help the dying Carl, he gets the pee beaten out of him by a police officer and has to call Carl's loved ones to inform them about his death.

It kinda reminds me of Anse trying to fix the quilt on Addie, and how he kept on messing it up the more he tried. Both experienced such bad luck trying to help out. The difference here is that Anse's luck never turned around in this situation, and got worse but Smithy's luck turned around. He got new clothes and a new bike, which meant he could continue his journey.

The second incident that Smithy has is when he rescues the little boy from the river. That led to the other people, which included some guy with a gun, to come find the kid. Of course, with Smithy's luck, he gets shot.

While Anse doesn't do anything that injures himself (because he can't sweat or else bad things happen), he still makes situations so much worse. He insists on Jewel and Darl going to town right before Addie dies so their journey is harder because of the river. Then he also refuses to get Cash to a doctor and decides to use cement to make a cast. I mean, really? I understand there wasn't that many choices, but even when Anse tried to help Cash, he made the situation worse. Cash ends up losing the leg! What the heck?!

At least Smithy seems to be able to bounce back better than before, so I'm expecting him to survive being shot (he's the main character after all) so he'll probably be fine.

I mean, in a way I guess Anse also did bounce back in the end. He got his teeth and a new wife! That obviously shows that he didn't have terrible luck, but I don't know if I'd consider that good luck...

But yeah, that's just my thoughts. Smithy and Anse both have bad luck but bounce back (kinda) later on. So many Smithy's luck will be like Anse's and he'll get a wife by the end of the book.