Book Review: Send by Patty Blount

Title: Send
Author: Patty Blount
Pages: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Goodreads synopsis:

It’s been five years since I clicked Send.
Four years since I got out of juvie.
Three months since I changed my name.
Two minutes since I met Julie.
A second to change my life.

All Dan wants for his senior year is to be invisible. This is his last chance at a semi-normal life. Nobody here knows who he is. Or what he’s done. But on his first day at school, instead of turning away like everyone else, Dan breaks up a fight. Because Dan knows what it’s like to be terrorized by a bully—he used to be one.

Now the whole school thinks he’s some kind of hero—except Julie. She looks at him like she knows he has a secret. Like she knows his name isn’t really Daniel...



My review:

The book talks about a kid who think he is a murderer. Murder is an extreme offense to some people. Unfortunately, when you read tons of book with character deaths, murder doesn't seem so bad. Especially if you enjoy dystopian and/or magical books. People die all the time, live with it.

Moving on to the story, I did not relate bullying much though I think that is what the book emphasis on. This is because it mostly concern cyber bullying and it doesn't really show. What is prominent here is what happened to the main character Daniel Ellison or his real name Kenneth James Mele. Come on, he simply take an embarrassing picture of a school mate which happened to go viral. The kid then committed suicide. Who is there to blame? Society? Definitely! A single kid who is a trigger? Hell no!

Yes, it is wrong to humiliate others, bla, bla, bla. Honestly, shit happens. Life goes on. you don't just end your life because people saw you in a childish underwear. The judge was obviously a moron putting Kenny's name right next to sex offenders. He is a child, a mere 13 year old. He is at the age of experimenting. Yes, he definitely need his lesson, but putting him in juvie with others who's done worse will create a whole lot of trouble. I'm surprise Kenny turned out pretty much okay because you know what they say, jail doesn't reform a criminal, it teach them to not get caught. Come on, evil geniuses all in one place, they definitely spend their time swapping stories. Jail just creates better criminals and juvie is a breeding ground.

I think SEND just cultivates anger in me. I got mad at all the characters. I do felt a sliver of pity in my heart, but mostly I feel like punching them in the face just to see them pull themselves together. Man, my high school was full of drama and taunts, but you didn't see me jumping off a building. Maybe I did, and I am currently posting this with my lifeless body, decaying and rotting somewhere with free wifi.

Though I think Daniel a.k.a Kenny is cool because he hasn't yet has split personality but close to it because he can talk to himself face to face.

Oh, and I do not like the heroin. She's dodgy since the beginning.

This doesn't mean I don't like the story, I do.