Cracked

Crackedby K.M. Walton

In this gripping debut, a teen takes a bottle of pills and lands in the psych ward with the bully who drove him to attempt suicide.Victor hates his life. He's relentlessly bullied at school and his parents constantly ridicule him at home.Bull is angry. He's sick of his grandfather's drunken beatings. And he likes to take out his rage on Victor.Determined to end it all, Victor takes a bottle of his mother's sleeping pills--only to be disappointed when he wakes up in the psych ward. And his roommate? None other than Bull, whose loaded-gun effort at self-defense has been labeled as a suicide attempt. Things go from bad to worse--until the boys discover they might just have something in common: a reason to live. (goodreads.com)

Cripes! All I did was cry through this book! I read it cover to cover on Thursday evening, when I picked it up because I just wanted something to try and read while I felt ill and next thing I knew, it was 3 hours later, I was bawling and the book was finished!Two things hit me as soon as I started the book, the first was "Oh, this is a book with male protagonists!" (which, really, I shouldn't have been surprised about because I READ THE SUMMARY! Sometimes I amaze myself with how slow I am to pick up on the obvious. Sheesh.) The second thing hit me after I finished the second chapter and that was, "Wow, this is mega depressing."And it is. This is one of those mental illness, bullying type stories that I generally hide from until I am emotionally capable of handling it. I suppose because I had been surprised by a few other Emotional Rollercoaster books in the past about how safe they were, that I took for granted this book wouldn't leave me a sobbing mess.Yeah. Not so much. I was tearing up by the fourth chapter and the last quarter of the book was a struggle to read through eyes blurred by tears, nose running, tears staining the pages. My heart just ached so much for Victor and Bull and everything they were going through.What did I love most about the book? I loved how K.M. Walton took two boys from completely different sides of life and found a commonality between them that they didn't know they had. I loved how Victor and Bull were more than they appeared to be on the outside. I started out hating Bull, even though I knew he had it rough at home, that didn't make him likable to me - until you learn about his graveyard paradise and a little more about how he spends/saves his money. Both Victor and Bull found a place in my heart as I wept for them.This is not an easy book to read, especially if you already have difficulties with subjects like bullying and suicide. This is a well-written, emotional story about two boys who just want to be loved and accepted and are angry at the world. The book isn't very long (312 pages) but it has a huge impact. The summary states that this is a "gripping debut" and it's 100% accurate.Be prepared to cry when you read Cracked. Be prepared to have your heart break before it's put back together. Be prepared to hate the parents (and in my case, cry over how blessed I am to have parents who love me and have always been there for me), but thank others.Be prepared to welcome Victor and Bull into your lives and want to protect them from everything bad in the world.Because you will.