Review of The Book Iboy by Kevin Brooks

Summary

Tom Harvey is just an ordinary sixteen-year-old kid and he lives in Crown Town. A city full of gangs. His father was just a guy Tom’s mother slept with one night. His Gram (grandmother) looked after him after his mother died in a car accident when he was still a baby. But one day Tom happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong moment. An iPhone fell from the sky and shattered his skull. Tom obtained new powers and seeks revenge for what happened that day. But the consequences are unimaginable and dangerous. What will Tom do? Keep quiet or seek revenge?

Personal Book report

The last confrontation with the Gang leader Elman was shocking and a rewarding ending for the reader. I didn’t expect the story to end this way. Example: “I could be your fucking father. ” This ending appeals to me because it gives the reader what they want. A plot twist. No one would have thought that the man could have raped Tom’s mother in the past. The protagonist outsmarts the villain when Lucy and he were in danger. He was cornered but he used his iPowers to sabotage the phone of the villain and it exploded. Example: “They would have realized that the only reason I hadn’t let their phones explode was that they’d been too close to Lucy at the time. . . ”, “And then I watched, with no emotion at all, as his chest exploded”. Tom simultaneously waited for the right moment and he made sure that he would not hurt Lucy. This ending shows that Tom always thinks about other people first and about himself second. Tom never gave up even when the odds were against him. This shows us that we should never give up in real life.

Things that appeal:

Tom is a kind character with sympathy and I love the way he helps other characters like Lucy and his Grandmother in the story.

The novel teaches us something about the real world and you can relate to the characters as a reader and feel like you see the world from their perspective. The writer has a very interesting view of the modern world and it reflects in his book. It could almost say that it is an artwork. Example: “The heart has reasons that reasons cannot know”. It tells us that sometimes the feelings of your heart become stronger than thinking rationality and you become ignorant of your surroundings. So we should listen to our heart but also to our mind.

Things that don’t appeal:

Sometimes the words in the novel are not appropriate. There is a lot of swearing in the novel. Example: “It’s all about power, ’ he said. “Everything. . the whole fucking world, it’s all about power’’. The boss Elman of the gang was talking about an interesting and unfortunate fact about our society. The ones who have power trample over the others. It was interesting but the swearing makes the book less enjoyable sometimes.

The most memorable incidents were the two scenes where Tom uses his iPowers. In the first scene, the main character has a confrontation with some members of the Crown Gang because he was angry and wanted revenge. Who hurt or raped Lucy. Tom felt like he was invincible. Example: “I had faith in my iPowers”, “My force field was on, and as the knife blade struck it, and sparks flew, O’Neil shrieked and dropped the knife to the floor”.

The protagonist is powerful but he must not let the power take over and he must keep thinking rationally. I can relate to this and this scene is so memorable because in the real world. Some rich people are so arrogant and hurt poor people with their power. With power comes responsibility. In the second scene, Tom opens a window and lifts O’Neil up into the window with his iPower. Example: “I grabbed hold of him before he could run, grasping his throat with one hand, giving enough shock to stop him from struggling”. But when the main character almost throws the gang member out of the windows. Lucy arrives and stops him. Example: “No don’t do it!” Tom doesn’t understand why because he hurt her and raped her. Example: “How could you possibly not want me to kill him?” But this scene teaches us that revenge doesn’t satisfy. Revenge lowers you to the level of what they did.

The main protagonist met misfortune one day. He felt powerless when he could not do anything about the girl Lucy that was raped in her own house. Example: “A 15-year-old girl has been raped by a gang of youths on the Crown Lane Estate”. He always puts others before himself. An example of it is when the main character opens a letter from his grandmother with the final demand of the council tax. It informs Tom that his grandmother is three months behind in rent. The main protagonist was very worried. She was £6, 432. 77 overdrawn and her credit card was cancelled. Example: “It was a big surprise to me. I mean, Gram had never earned tons of money or anything, and we’d always had to struggle to make ends meet, but we’d always just about managed. Now though…. well, this looks pretty serious. ” In this Example, Tom shows sympathy and he feels guilty for putting such a burden on his grandmother. Tom fixes this problem by creating an algorithm with his iPowers which steals £1 from the top 15. 000 in terms of wealth. Example: “Yes, it was wrong. It was stealing. It was fraud. But I didn’t feel bad about it”.

Tom did wrong by stealing but he has a kind heart. Tom reminds me of my friend Victor. No matter how hard it sometimes may be. He never left me or other friends in the dust. This story brought me closer to my friend. And I can relate to how Victor felt because it is similar in the story.