A mother was in with her brood the other day. Specifically, I was at the library and they were visiting. We were all discussing good series. She mentioned that she liked to read the books first before her children did, but that she had a hard time keeping up. She is busy and their reading is voracious and she has several children with varied tastes. Her number one complaint was that some series will start out innocently, but by the later books, they will become slightly offensive. For example, if you like Harry Potter and are not opposed to magic and kissing, you think you are fine. And then you read the last book and Ron is "effing" all over the placing. This would be comparable to "darning" or "goshing" everywhere only much less acceptable. Perhaps Rowling would have done better by having Ron say "freaking" or "frigging" or "frilling" instead.
I read Crank and Glass and although they cover serious topics that are sometimes hard for parents to discuss with their children, I did not find them overly graphic. I even suggested that they might be good books to read with your teen especially when covering the topics of drugs and sex. Even a good girl can crash. And. Boys will say the darndest things to get what they want.
Fallout completes the trilogy. Although I had the opportunity to read them one after the other, it would appear that the third book was long waited for. Perhaps here is an explanation. Fallout occurs 19 years after Glass and it follows the lives of Kristina's oldest three children. We no longer get to see Kristina's view point. We no longer identify with her or feel sorry for her. No, now we observe from the view points of Hunter, Autumn and Summer. We get to see the mother that they hate because she doesn't act like a mother should.
Hunter was born at the end of the first book and was later adopted by Kristina's parents, Hunter's grandparents. He has a good life. His mother/grandmother is a famous author and they are well-off. He is in college and he holds a job. He has never met his father although he is aware of the circumstances of his coming into existence – rape.
Autumn was conceived at the end of Glass. She is Trey's daughter. Her parents were married briefly. When they were both incarcerated, she was taken by her Aunt Cora, Trey's sister, and her grandfather, Trey and Cora's father. Autumn knows very little about her biological mother.
Summer is the product of yet another man. The very man that broke up Kristina and Trey. Summer has lived in various foster homes, but soon ends up yet again with her alcoholic, druggy father and one of his many live-in girlfriends. Summer has had some contact with her mother.
I cannot help but share. Kristina has two more sons born of a fourth man, an abusive man. During this book, the boys move in with Hunter and his "parents" while Kristina tries to break ties with their father, kinda, maybe, sorta.
For me, having three different viewpoints, while the book may not be any more graphic than the first two, I tend to find it more offensive on the whole. Sex, drugs and alcohol times three.
I get the point. Meth addiction affects everyone and generations of a family. It is far-reaching and ugly. But this book was too much, even for me.
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