This book follows a high-school boy named Diego as he goes through probation following an assault at school. Throughout probation, he works through the root cause of his anger, focusing in on childhood trauma and his coping methods.

While I am not a therapist and cannot vouch for the effectiveness or safety of the methods used in this book on healing from trauma, it really hit at my emotions. Diego has quite a bit of character growth throughout the story and quickly becomes someone you want to root for. His internalized homophobia is not something that is supported throughout the book and presented as one of the areas of growth for him. While his healing felt incredibly fast, it still felt real and personal. I did take off a star because of the unrealistic speed of his recovery, specifically surrounding his confrontation with his mom and how that was handled.

This is my first Alex Sanchez read and I will definitely be picking up more of Alex Sanchez's books.

TW: child sexual assault, self harm, assault, homophobia ( )

Two stars, down from the original five I gave it in 2017. In 2017, I thought this book approached its themes seriously and quite well. Now, five years later...Das_Sporking reviews books and fanfictions, and has different things they count. "Symbolic Dreams of Symbolism" is a count for super unrealistic dreams that of course do something for the plot or characterization in a hammy way, especially if they're recurring. This book had quite a bit of those for pages at a time. The dream was in the form of being chased by a shark and was...Symbolic Dreams of Symbolism, indeed. Another count Das_sporking has is "How do you do, fellow kids?" which is of an adult author trying very hard to sound like a modern teenager. This book has -that- in spades. It was annoying. The writing wasn't as vivid as I remembered, and at times, things were just so convenient. There was plot contrivance. I was glad when the book ended. For this type of stuff...I'd actually recommend memoirs containing these themes, since writing these books and doing it well can be so tricky. ( )

Probably the most intense and realest of Alex Sanchez's books I've read so far — definitely the most serious.

EVEN THOUGH THE MAIN CHARACTER IDS MALE IT CAN HAVE AN EFFECT ON BOTH MALE AND FEMALES. IT IS A STORY OF SECRETS, ANGE, AND REDEMPTION. IT DID NOT HAVE A TOO FAST OR TOO SLOW OF A PACE. The PACE WAS JUST RIGHT. The BOMBS THAT GO OFF DURING THE BOOK GO OFF JUST RIGHT. AFTER YOU READ THIS BOOK YOU WILL LOOK AT CERTAIN PEOPLE DIFFERENTLY

Told from the third person point of view readers will rally to Diego’s side waiting for him to open up to his probation officer, Mr. Vidas. This is a rich story that tells the story of a boy coming of age as he deals with his past. Although the story deals with some mature matter the details are clear but not graphic. Teens will identify with this high interest coming of age story. A must have novel for both junior and senior high school libraries. ( )