Despite the opposition of his family and friends, Neil befriends the brain-damaged boy newly-arrived in the neighborhood.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.7 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Strange Book...
Feb 3 2008
By El Hombre Invisible
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This book is one I read just once, but will always remember, both for its successes and seeming failures... In the beginning, the boy's teacher insists that he get to know the mentally retarded boy he has been mocking (along with everyone else in town, including the parents). You would think, therefore, that Kin Platt is making the statement with the book that we should try to overcome prejudicial fears of people who are different, but the ending of the book undermines this idea completely. Seemingly BECAUSE he befriended the mentally retarded boy, the protagonist loses his mind, giving readers the idea that the entire bigoted village was correct in shunning the boy, because apparently mental retardation is contagious! I'm sure Kin Platt meant to argue that infuriation at intolerance drove the protagonist mad, but in my youthful mind, the argument ended on a strange note of paranoiac warning: "beware, and avoid those who are different than yourself: what they are is contagious!"
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This boook was very interesting and intriging.
Oct 19 1999
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I thought this book was interesting because it gives you all the things that you want to read about. You get mystery, suspence, action , and some parts that are funny. Then again it also is very odd at times. Overall I recomend this book to others.
10 of 21 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
AVISO! ACHTUNG! WARNING! THIS IS ONE VERY LOUSY BOOK!
Aug 17 2000
By BeatleBangs1964
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I thought this was one lousy book as a child and I think it is one lousy book as an adult. I can save you folks a little time right now by warning you in advance of what you will come into.
The main character is a boy who baits a severely retarded peer. He calls the boy "Dummy" and uses him as a subject of an English composition. His teacher naturally calls him on his cruelty and insists that he get to know the boy he calls Dummy. Comstock, the protagonist does and in so doing learns that that boy has a truckload of problems -- an autistic sister, a mother who works for crumbs in a bakery and no other adult or back up to be found.
Comstock has horrible parents. They compare him to the ghost of his dead brother, crab at him when he accepts his $2.00 allowance instead of demanding more (what a weird parental wish) and constantly hound and belittle him and his sister, Susie. Susie is the only character one can like. She accepts everyone including the boy called Dummy. Her stupid parents think the boy is dangerous and forbid her or Comstock to have any further contact with them. The mother mocks the boy and tells Susie he is bad. Susie laughs at the sheer madness of anyone thinking that boy is dangerous. The stupid mother slaps her and turns on Comstock, saying, "By rights, mister, I should have given that one to you." That mother belonged in the wastebasket.
The end was simply unfinished business. The boy called Dummy was accused of killing a little girl (that was never explained) and he is subsequently killed by folks who just have no sympathy for anyone whose just a tad different. As for Comstock, he suffers a mental breakdown and ends up in an institution. The story closes with Comstock saying that he needs a new chest because he thinks he outgrew his old one.
Now that I've provided you with this information, do you STILL want to read this?
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3.7 out of 5 stars
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