Brutal by Michael Harmon (Review by Liesel)

Synopsis:

With her martyr-doctor mother gone to save lives in some South American country, Poe Holly suddenly finds herself on the suburban doorstep of the father she never knew, who also happens to be a counselor at her new high school. She misses Los Angeles. She misses the guys in her punk band. Weirdly, she even misses the shouting matches she used to have with her mom.

But Poe manages to find a few friends: Theo, the cute guy in the anarchy Tshirt, and Velveeta, her oddly likeable neighbor—and a born victim who’s the butt of every prank at Benders High. But when the pranks turn deadly at the hands of invincible football star Colby Morris, Poe knows she’s got to fix the system and take down the hero.

With insightfulness, spot-on dialogue, and a swiftly paced plot, Michael Harmon tells the story of a displaced girl grappling with a truly dangerous bully.

Review:

So everyone has read a book at some point starring the protagonist unwilling to conform to standards set by a supposedly superior authority. Enter Poe Holly, a protagonist who is by no means like the rest. With her mother gone to help save precious lives in South America, Poe ends up moving from Los Angeles, a place with limitless possibilities, to suburbia, under the care of the father whom she has never met.

We are introduced immediately to Velveeta, a boy having a rough time in school because of constant abuse from bullies, and Theo, someone to whom Poe can relate immediately as another that never takes orders from a higher authority. Poe struggles against not only the unstoppable bullying force of Colby Morris but also against the strict enforcements of rules at her new school. She immediately begins challenging the social order, expecting the world to change for her as she tackles the innate social hierarchy already established within her new school.

In Brutal, Michael Harmon makes a powerful statement regarding adults in society as ones that allow social ladders to develop and flourish while keeping the reader entertained with Poe, a girl who refuses to take orders. Although reacting in different ways than the ones described in the novel, many readers will be able to empathize with Poe’s plight to overcome and defeat each level of the hierarchy. With wit and sarcasm applied in all dialogues, Brutal is a novel that you will not be able to put down.

xoxo, Liesel

Preorder Brutal here (release: March 10, 2009).

Visit Michael Harmon here.