Review: 4 sparkling stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2014
Justin South certainly put his heart and soul into this story. You will see that each paragraph in this story is an evidence of his heartfelt dedication to the plight of children who are abused.Alex and Drew's story initially left me feeling totally choked up and very emotional. This part in the story focused on Alex's feeling of betrayal and hurt by his parents and community. As I read further, I felt Alex's utter despair and felt deeply hurt... and then Justin South changed his story line and focused on Alex's recovery...It seemed almost like he wanted to acknowledge and respect young Alex's pain and then move onto his healing process with a focus on the power of love and self-determination to move forward. I felt a little disappointed that there was not much about his family after the event.I think part of my disappointment was coming from my rage over Alex's pain and I wanted to see his family suffering for what they did to him. I also wanted to see Alex raging and demanding satisfaction for his pain and suffering.... but it seemed Alex was emotionally more grounded than I was. ..well...after a self-reflecting time, I realised, this story was not about abuse but about personal growth and recovery.Although, I find the dialogue between Alex and Drew a little too sweet for my taste but I can see what Justin is doing...he wants to bring a balance to his story so that his readers will not be simply struggling with despair and hurt. I noticed some issues with syntax but again I think Justin was trying to speak from Alex's point of view...a youth who never had opportunity to complete his education and had some developmental problems.This story is set in Australia so be prepared for the Aussie slangs and Aussie-English. I loved that Justin did not forget the healing powers of our Aussie icon yummy "TimTams" and used this tasty treat in the story of Alex & Drew