Breaking Her Fall

One night, while Tucker Jones’ thirteen-year-old daughter Kat is in the movies with a friend, he receives a hostile phone call from another parent, telling him that she is actually at a party, drinking alcohol and performing sexual acts on boys. From that night on, Tucker Jones’ life, his family, and those surrounding him are turned upside down.

Stephen Goodwin writes with clear insight and an open-mind, as he talks about violence, parent-child relationships, adolescence, and growing up. In the first few chapters, his writing hooked me right in. It was fast-paced, emotional, and intriguing. By the middle, I felt that it was becoming repetitive and a little dragging. Even then, I continued to read because the whole premise was interesting. Overall, it was a captivating read with flaws. First of all, like I said, it became repetitive. A little bit more editing would have helped. Character editing would certainly have helped as well.

The main character I would personally edit would be the protagonist himself. I personally did not like the character of Tucker Jones. Sure, at first I was rooting for him, but as I read along, I found his character to be selfish and actually.. unbelievable. It seemed as if his primary concern was himself rather than his daughter. He kept blaming her (maybe not directly) and couldn’t even forgive her, and even though he has the right to feel this way, I never saw that he cared and was concerned for her daughter. Maybe it’s just me, but I just never saw the love of a parent for the child, which supposedly, is the whole point of the book.

It was a good read, but with too many unnecessary subplots with loose ends. Therefore, I don’t think I’ll be too ecstatic about recommending this to anyone. Also, I don’t think I’ll ever be reading this again.