Review: Coming of age and learning not to hate
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 11, 2013
A sort of juvenile Things Fall Apart, A Distant Enemy chronicles a teenage boy's rage against the white man and the disintegrating traditions of his Yu'pik culture. The boy's rage is largely misplaced. Joseph is half white himself, and he's angry at the father who abandoned him when he was eight. He gets himself into a spot of trouble through an act of retributive vandalism, and the the hole is dug deeper when he's framed for theft. But his real problem is his inner turmoil, the hatred that is making him into a person he doesn't really want to be. In comes Mr. Townsend, an outsider, a dreaded white man who uses classic English Literature and compassion to draw Joseph out, communicate with him, and teach him a lesson about tolerance, a lesson Joseph's grandfather also tries to teach him. (In a reversal of norms, the older generation here is less alarmed by the encroachment of the white man, more aware of the improvements that have been made, than the younger generation.) The book is somewhat predictable, following a number of conventions, and nothing particularly unexpected happens. There's a lot of emotion and internal conflict, and I think this is the sort of books adults and teachers want young adults to read and think about, but which young adults don't actually much enjoy. The writing is good enough. The cultural details are well done. The best parts of the novel are when the grandfather is storytelling. The characters, other than Joseph, are not particularly well developed, but nor are they merely stock stereotypes.Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.