Like when you move to a new house and there’s no furniture nor familiar walls, the same sort of weird alloy of abandonment and upheaval. I feel robbed, but I don’t feel cheated by Jasper Jones. “This night has pickpocketed me of precious things I can’t ever get back. Charlie will have a long, tortuous summer unable to talk to anyone else about it. Their misguided actions were well-intentioned but it’s hard to see how the secret can remain hidden. Secrets and stories abound in this small town, taking on a life of their own and replacing facts with suspicion, prejudice and myth. I think he’s probably the most honest person in this town. The two boys aren’t friends before this night but they will form a bond to keep a terrible secret from the rest of the town. Jasper Jones’ name may be on the cover but it’s the younger boy, Charlie, who narrates the story the fledging writer whose window Jasper comes to when he needs help. There were even moments in the book where I wondered if he would turn out to be a figment of Charlie’s imagination. Pushed into the margins by life while still only a boy, he’s held up as a bad influence and ignored until bad things happen and people need someone to blame. He’s a shadowy and enigmatic character when he first appears outside Charlie Bucktin’s window.

Jasper Jones and I may have taken our time getting acquainted but I am so very happy that we finally did. In the dead of night, the boys steal through town, and Charlie learns of Jasper’s horrible discovery.īurdened by a terrible secret and the weight of a town’s suspicion, Charlie feels his world closing in.Īfter this summer nothing will ever be the same again. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is intriguing.

Late one night, thirteen-year-old Charlie Bucktin is startled by a knock on his window. I still didn’t read it back then but it leapt out at me when I was trying to find a book title with J for this month’s A-Z Challenge. I can’t even remember when or where I bought it, although I have a feeling that I wanted to read more Australian fiction while I waited for a new Tim Winton book to come out. Jasper Jones has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time.

Author jasper jones