Trigger By Susan Vaught Wyzhir Johnson

Title: Trigger What is your book’s genre? Write it here: Realistic Fiction What is it? This book is about a boy who survived a suicide attempt. He suffers brain damage and must re-discover the reasons why he shot himself. Example: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson Example: Monster by Walter Dean Myers Example: Inside Out by Terry Truman Attribute: Setting makes this book a realistic novel. Attribute: Realistic fiction uses flashbacks as clues to tell the story. Attribute: In a realistic fiction the main character needs to be enlightened; he wants to figure out the “why.”

Attribute: Setting makes this book a realistic novel. “On August 2, a Friday a few weeks after my seventeenth birthday, a little less than a year after I took a bullet to my head, I finally got to go home (1). “ “A president gets inaugurated every four years. Or did he mean the month? … When did a president get inaugurated ? Maybe it was December. I knew this stuff Before (234).” “I played with the bottom of the phone, the little places where it sat on the charger. ‘If I don’t do better by Christmas, what about a G.E.D.? Less pressure. Hamburgers (289).’”

Attribute: Realistic fiction uses flashbacks as clues to tell the story. “My fingers tingle as I lift the gun to my mouth. It tastes oily and dusty as I close my lips on cold gunmetal – but I can’t. Not in the mouth. I’m shaking, but I lift the barrel to the side of my head. The tip digs into my skin. I’m thinking nothing but how it feels, and that my hand’s shaking and that my room has so much dust in places I didn’t even know (14).” “Not in the mouth. I’m shaking, but I lift the barrel to the side of my head. The tip digs into my skin. I’m thinking about drugs and girls and how the tip feels, and my hand’s shaking, and I feel guilty for a lot of stuff and my life sucks, and that my room has so much dust and sand in places I didn’t even know. Then I am squeezing the trigger … (64).” “I lift the barrel to the side of my head. The tip digs into my skin. I’m thinking about what’s inside the box, and all the dust and ashes in places I didn’t even know. Then I’m squeezing the trigger and looking at the box and the dust and ashes and feeling my hand shake and there’s noise and fire and pain and I’m falling, falling, my broken head smashing into my pillow ….( ).”

Attribute: In a realistic fiction the main character needs to be enlightened; he wants to figure out the “why.” “You’ve got to give her time, Jersey, the Carter shrink insisted. She’s still distant because she needs to heal. So does your father. Lucky. He wanted me to work on insight, that shrink. Lucky. Proud. Said insight would be my biggest problem, except maybe paying attention to how other people feel, since the right side of the brain did all that, and the right side of the brain had a big hole in it” (3). “Mama Rush said I got stuck on doing too much, and doing it better than everybody else. So maybe my life sucked because I was selfish and nobody liked me? Todd had stopped talking to me, so maybe other people had stopped talking to me, too. Maybe I was totally selfish and all stuck on doing too much and being better than everyone. Maybe that’s why Mom didn’t seem to lime me much anymore, either” (99). “I rubbed my throat as I sat up. Then I shook my head and rubbed my clawed-up fingers with the fingers that still worked. Yeah. Alive. Burned pink, hot, thirsty, but alive. Alive with the gun. Ashes, ashes, ashes. Hell of a dream. It made sick down inside. It made me want to yell some more”(272).

EVALUATION: Is Trigger a good example of a realistic fiction? Susan Vaught the author of the novel did a good job with the use of flashbacks to tell a realistic story. Vaught also used realistic examples of how the character interacted with others in order to gain insight into why he tried to kill himself. However, the novel was depressing and lacked sensitivity. Trigger was not very exciting, which resulted in a lack of interest with regards to reading it.