1. The novel was set in two country towns; Mumbilli & Coghill NSW. It was a unique setting in Mumbilli, because it was such a small town, people cared about Daniel’s accident much more than they did in Coghill, because Coghill was a bigger town. In Mumbilli, families knew each other and they hated the Brennans after the accident. From all the pressure from the small town Daniel’s family had no choice to leave. When they got to Coghill they were scared of being hated by their new town. But when everyone found out about the accident no one really cared that much because of the bigger population and this had happened to others in the community.
On page 174, when the Brennans were in Mumbilli, Tom was explaining how everyone was so shell shocked. “He walked into the kitchen and saw his Dad’s sad face staring at the wall of the kitchen he had to get away from the sight of his dad being upset to go outside to get some fresh air, he saw ugly letters of black spray paint, where Daniel and Tom use to play handball it said, “SHAME ON YOU, BRENNANS, SHAME” This shows how hard it must of been for them to cope in such a small town.
On p177 Brendan and Tom were talking about how the people found out about their family history in Coghill this shows how a larger community does not seem to care so much about people’s backgrounds.
“The Billi’s a completely different place. There’s 30,000 more people in Coghill. That means there’s a lot more stuff going on. Why do you reckon your oldies decided to come here? It was more than just us being here.”
On page 174, when the Brennans were in Mumbilli, Tom was explaining how everyone was so shell shocked. “He walked into the kitchen and saw his Dad’s sad face staring at the wall of the kitchen he had to get away from the sight of his dad being upset to go outside to get some fresh air, he saw ugly letters of black spray paint, where Daniel and Tom use to play handball it said, “SHAME ON YOU, BRENNANS, SHAME” This shows how hard it must of been for them to cope in such a small town.
On p177 Brendan and Tom were talking about how the people found out about their family history in Coghill this shows how a larger community does not seem to care so much about people’s backgrounds.
“The Billi’s a completely different place. There’s 30,000 more people in Coghill. That means there’s a lot more stuff going on. Why do you reckon your oldies decided to come here? It was more than just us being here.”
2. On p277 Toms Birthday, Mum & Dad’s card read,
“To Our Darling Middle Child, You are very special we are so proud of you. We hope your trek in Nepal is wonderful. You have already proved to us you can climb mountains. Love Mum and Dad xx”
I think that this quote was one of my favourite quotes to sum up this novel. Tom had to climb up a massive ‘mountain’ to recover from his emotional life. His whole family was shell shocked from the tragedy that had happened to his brother. So he had to pick himself up and move on from his past and to help his family get back onto their feet again.
“To Our Darling Middle Child, You are very special we are so proud of you. We hope your trek in Nepal is wonderful. You have already proved to us you can climb mountains. Love Mum and Dad xx”
I think that this quote was one of my favourite quotes to sum up this novel. Tom had to climb up a massive ‘mountain’ to recover from his emotional life. His whole family was shell shocked from the tragedy that had happened to his brother. So he had to pick himself up and move on from his past and to help his family get back onto their feet again.
3. There are two specific themes I think that were important in the novel,
1. “Forgiveness”
The Mumbilli Town had to forgive the Brennans for what they did
Kylie also had to forgive her self because she thought that she started the fight between Fin and Daniel, because she helped Fin get Daniels girlfriend ‘Claire’ and that’s what made Daniel get so angry at fin the night of the accident and was one of the reasons why his crashed his car from his anger.
As well the Family had to forgive what Daniel did and they had to try and move on and get back to life again.
Lastly, Tom had to forgive himself because he called Daniel a ‘prick’ the night of the accident which contributed in Daniels anger in the crash.
2. “Climbing a Mountain”
The Whole Family had to work together to try and get themselves back to normal again. Gran and Uncle Brendan really helped in getting their family back together, Tom was so distressed, but by the help of Brendan he started to help Kylie his sister and then Kylie started to help Mum and Aunty Kath, by the end of the book the family were starting to become happy again. They went through a long tough journey but they climbed that big mountain and they finally got there.
1. “Forgiveness”
The Mumbilli Town had to forgive the Brennans for what they did
Kylie also had to forgive her self because she thought that she started the fight between Fin and Daniel, because she helped Fin get Daniels girlfriend ‘Claire’ and that’s what made Daniel get so angry at fin the night of the accident and was one of the reasons why his crashed his car from his anger.
As well the Family had to forgive what Daniel did and they had to try and move on and get back to life again.
Lastly, Tom had to forgive himself because he called Daniel a ‘prick’ the night of the accident which contributed in Daniels anger in the crash.
2. “Climbing a Mountain”
The Whole Family had to work together to try and get themselves back to normal again. Gran and Uncle Brendan really helped in getting their family back together, Tom was so distressed, but by the help of Brendan he started to help Kylie his sister and then Kylie started to help Mum and Aunty Kath, by the end of the book the family were starting to become happy again. They went through a long tough journey but they climbed that big mountain and they finally got there.
4. The characters in the book really seemed realistic, the author effectively made all the characters act like a real family. For example, Uncle Brendan really seemed like a good, nice loving uncle who really wanted to help the family just what an Uncle would probably do. Gran really acted how a Grandma would be, a bit annoying, weird because of her old age, but had great wisdom in her knowledge of trying to help the family. Kylie the sister was really realistic she was upset, always fought with Tom, loving to her cousin Fin, but by the end of the book she forgave herself and helped around the house, Tom and Kylie started to have a better relationship with each other and looked after each other. Tom was a great character in the book; he was sad, confused, hated life and didn’t know what to do. In the story he would always whine about his life being so bad, but he started to realise that he needed to change and that he had help to change and he did change just like a normal teenage boy would under the same circumstances.
5. The Characters evolved in the book, I think mainly because of the help of Uncle Brendan and Gran. Those two knew that they needed to help the family because the family was a dysfunctional family that needed immediate help. Uncle Brendan really helped Tom build his character and his confidence up again. He took Tom for runs every morning up a tedious hill run that Tom hated and always whined about it. But by the end, Tom could do it easy. Brendan mentored Tom when he was feeling upset and confused, he gave some great advice to help Tom realise that he needs to change and move on. Once Tom was getting better, he met his new girl friend Chrissy. He loved her a lot and Tom couldn’t stop thinking about her, which made Tom stop thinking about his past. Gran also helped the characters evolve because she accepted the family into her home. She wanted to help the family out so much; she cooked for them, cleaned and tried to help out a lot.
I think when Tom started to forgive his past and become happier, he started to help other people, he helped Kylie with her problems and then she helped her mum and aunty. Daniel got moved to a better prison which cared for him much more. Daniel became less depressed because of the help of his mentors in prison which made him want to help others that were in the same state as he was when he first got in there. Once Daniel brought himself together, his mum started to become a little bit like she used to be. She was devastated about what happened because Daniel was her first child and she loved him so much and she hated seeing Daniel depressed. When she forgave Daniel then Daniel’s Father felt a little bit happier as well because his wife started to move around the house, clean her self up and help a little more. So therefore, due to the help of two people in the book this really made the Brennan Family become like they were once again.
“7.” When reading the Novel, it made me think that this bad stuff really happens in life but it not make me feel uncomfortable. For example, when 9E were on 9^4, we were in the City for our City Week Experience. We went to an old magistrate’s court and we had to re-enact a real court case about boy aged 18 who drag raced with his girl friend and his best mate in the car when he lost control of the car and killed them both. This boy was very smart; he got 96.8 percent on his VCE Enter Score; he had a bright future ahead of him. But he was ‘an accident waiting to happen’ and he made the wrong decision. However, he showed the court that he was a good person, not a criminal. The families were totally devastated with what had happened and the boy who killed them was in deep depression. The court gave him 5 years in a youth detention centre where he could get some help and rehabilitate better. When I read this book I thought that this book was very much the same as what happened in this real court case that we acted out. Next year just my friends I will be getting my learners permit and eventually my licence. The book made me realise that a good night out when the wrong decisions were made could turn out to be a tragedy. The author did her research, which made this book so realistic because these tragedies actually happen in this world.
By Hugo Hicks 9E
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