May book: Only Child (Stranglehold) by Jack Ketchum

Only Child (Stranglehold) 

by Jack Ketchum 

(Chosen by JP)

Theme: One that would shock your grandmother



Some background links to get you started:

• Jack Ketchum's website
• Interviewing The Scariest Guy in America: Jack Ketchum at Revoltdaily
• No such thing as an immoral book: Jack Ketchum on THE WOMAN and violence in the arts at Screenread.de

What we discussed about the book:

- is this 'one that would shock your gramdmother"?

- is that one that would shock everyone??

- how distressing was this book?

- the statistics of family violence

- role of censorship in books/movies...is anything off limits?

- did we know what 'side' the author was on?

- was Arthur's behaviour the mother's fault?

- was it a realistic ending? why did it shock us? was the ending the book's biggest flaw?

- statistics about reoffending over generations

- does the justice system adequately protect those that need it?

- how much of this story is from Robert's point of view?

- was the relationship between the judge and lawyers a boy's club?

- can we feel sorry for Arthur?

- was it realistic that Robert would be given to Ruth after the shooting?

- in what ways was character development driven in the book?

Ratings

Range: 7 to 8.5

Average: 7.625