Tex is an easygoing, fun-loving teen who frequently gets into situations more dangerous than he realizes. Mason, his somewhat cynical older brother, deals with this as best as he can while raising Tex with little help from their largely absent father (their mother's deceased).

Tex experiences some uncomfortable aspects of growing up and has to make decisions (sometimes wrong) about drinking, drugs, and relationships. In the process he learns a lot about the validity of Mason's cynical attitude toward most of life. He also finds out a family secret that explains why Mason is especially bitter when it comes to their father's infrequent visits.

**SPOILER** Tex stays optimistic to the end, however, and to Mason's amazement even shows empathy for a criminal who nearly costs the brothers their lives. This book ties into a previous book by Hinton, _That Was Then, This Is Now_.

I read it as a young teen, but given the rating guidelines I'd say adults will need to review/supervise for readers under 18. Not for people who find soap opera storylines riveting. It's entertaining enough to work as light reading, but there's a lot of reading between the lines to understand what's actually going on (as opposed to how a young, somewhat naive Tex narrates it). Also not for people who object to the fairly accurate depiction of how some young people do, believe it or not, experiment with drugs and alcohol.

The way that the story has changed for me over time, as I've stopped looking at it solely through Tex's eyes and now see it as a concerned and shocked adult :)
Example: After Mason sells Tex's beloved horse Negrito to cover the bills, Tex wonders why he couldn't have sold him to their rich neighbor -- the father of Tex's friend -- so that Tex could at least be close to Negrito. It seemed like an obvious solution when I was younger, but now I understand why Mason (struggling to maintain appearances and already under fire from the neighbor for Tex's antics) refused to even consider the idea.

The book had what struck me as a lot of unresolved no-win situations, injustice and tragedy, especially toward the end. Still, I felt that if everything in the plot had been cleanly resolved, it would have been unrealistic and Tex's character wouldn't have stood out as so unusually optimistic and good-natured.

Find out what happens to Tex and Mason in the long run.

Kind of frustrated about poverty, human conflict and tragedy in general when I think of parallels in the real world. Also worried about Tex getting into more trouble or worse, becoming a cynical person, and Mason getting more ulcers.

S.E. Hinton

S.E. Hinton is an excellent author. I picked this up after reading her other books and like those, her stories have characters that really stay with you and exciting plots.

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Created Jul 22, 2007 at 4:54pm • Submit your own review...