I really tried with this book. I borrowed the Kindle version a few months ago and got multiple hours into it. Then I just could not continue with the never-ending trauma / bad luck / shitty situations this kid was in. I guess my bad feelings went away, because I saw my sister had the Audible version last week. I gave it another shot. I started like two hours in, because I knew I had gotten at least that far. I probably listened for another two or three hours before I gave up for good. I’m not even fully sure that I made it as far the second time as I did the first time.
I was never very good with books that provided lots of detail. I’ve always had trouble with certain Stephen King books for that reason. This book just felt like “how can I say the house is brown but with the most words possible?” It wasn’t necessarily badly written, just too much. And it’s not like I didn’t care about the kid (Damon I think was his name, but early on he gets nicknamed Demon), it’s just that everything was so relentlessly bad that it felt like there was no hope. The world feels enough like that at times that I don’t need to feel that way in my free time.
Someone on Goodreads called it a dumpster of poverty porn, and that just really sums it up. He’s poor, his mom is a drug addict, he gets a bad stepdad, mom doesn’t help him, and on and on. I found out reading other reviews and synopses that what I had to look forward to if I actually finished the book was HIM BECOMING AN ADDICT. Hurray! What a reward for me as a reader! Another reviewer said, “The thought of proceeding with this one filled me with dread.” Same girl, same. 1 star.
