| This book is set in a big city in Australia. This is just one of the many things that makes it interesting - the language is just a little different, same with customs.
Ed Kennedy is 19 and very much aware of how little he has going for him. After all, both Salvador Dali and Bob Dylan were well on their way by the time they were his age. Ed? His little brother's a star at university. Ed himself is a reader, but has no hopes of going any further in school. He's lied about his age in order to get a job as a cab driver. His dad has died, an alcoholic. His chain-smoking mother wants him to do plenty of favors for her, but really doesn't care about him. Ed's out of the house, at least, living in a crummy little house with his huge and loveable but extremely smelly dog. He has a small circle of close friends. Marv's so obsessed with saving money that he drives a car that won't start nine times out of ten. Ritchie can't get it together enough to find a job. Audrey's a lovely thing (and how Ed loves her) but she's goes from one guy to the next, never letting anyone get too close. They get together mostly to play cards and once in a while to play soccer. Things are about to change for Ed, however. Inadvertently he stops a bank robbery. There's a story about him in the paper. Suddenly he receives a cryptic message - he's sent a playing card, the Ace of Diamonds, on which is written three addresses. Ed vacillates between wanting to find out what's going on in those houses and being afraid. But slowly he convinces himself to get involved in the lives of the people who live there, people who are also in desperate need to help. As the book progresses, Ed receives more messages. He meets a woman who's being raped by her husband, a girl who wants more than anything to run races, an old woman who's wandering in her memory, an immigrant family shunned by their neighbors.... Over time, Ed learns to see himself as a person capable of changing at least a tiny bit of the world. And at the same time, his relationships with his friends change. The romance he wants to have with Audrey is especially intriguing. I really understood why he loves her and how she feels towards him. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - humorous Time/era of story - 2000+ (Present Day) Romance/Romance Problems Yes Kind of romance: Crime & Police story Yes Story of Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - a teen Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Average intelligence Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 3 () City? Yes City: - dangerous - rude people Writing Style Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references only Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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