I recently read Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. This story’s setting is in a suburban area in Long Island. This story takes place in the 1960’s and the atmosphere of the book is relevant to that of what it would be like during that time period. At the beginning of the book, the author addresses who lives on the North Side and who lives on the South Side. Where people live is based off of what your last name ends in. The main character is Holling Hoodhood, and his problem is that he lives right in the middle of town. The author goes on to tell us that Holling is the only one in his 7th grade class that is Presbyterian, whereas everyone else is either Jewish or Catholic. On Wednesdays, the people that belong to these two different religions …show more content…
We go on to learn that his homelife isn’t very good because of his father. Mr. Hoodhood owns a business, Hoodhood and Associates, and all he really cares about is his son taking over his business. For example, Holling is Ariel in a play called “The Tempest”, and his father not only refuses to go, but doesn’t pick him up on time making him late for his date. Mr. Hoodhood strains the relationship between him and his son significantly. Holling has an older sister named Heather. Holling goes on to see his older sister as an ally. We also learn that Holling reads “Romeo and Juliet” and goes to see a play on Valentine’s Day with the girl he likes. Heather leaves home to find herself, which makes Holling realize how much he loves her. He understands why she had to do it, through the teachings of Shakespeare's plays. Holling also learns many life lessons through these plays. He learns about destiny, bravery, and to look at the good things in ice instead of the bad ones. Amazingly enough, I enjoyed this book. It showed me how to live with things that aren’t exactly how I want them to be. This book also showed me that people face hardships every day and live through them without you even noticing. In other words, there is usually way more to a person than what you see. I would rate this book 4.5/5