Freewill

Lynch, C. (2001). Freewill. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Seventeen year-old Will lives with his grandparents because his father committed suicide after killing his stepmother. This tragic event has affected Will consequently landing him in an alternative high school where he feels he doesn’t belong. He feels he should be a pilot, yet he finds himself carving beautiful pieces of wood. Will is a disturbed and confused boy who readers get to know through the narration of his inside voice or should I say thoughts. Throughout the story Will’s thoughts give insight into his psychological status, which evidently show that his past has affected his overall personality. When several teen suicides began to occur, Will feels responsible for them and claiming he doesn’t remember how the pieces of his wood crafts came to be formed leaves the readers with suspicion page by page asking Is Will a murderer? Will feels he is an outcast after all. His thoughts uncover what he feels about people in general and how they aren’t really with you just near. This book has topics of death, suicide and abandonment, which can be topics for the right readers at the right time. However the author’s writing style using second person might be confusing to some readers especially the reluctant students who would have been drawn to the book in the first place for its interesting synopsis. I recommend this book to avid readers in grades 8 and higher.