Ironman | 
 enlarge | Author: Chris Crutcher
Publisher: HarperTeen
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 439624
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 068813503X
EAN: 9780688135034
ASIN: 068813503X
Publication Date: April 14, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Bo Brewster has been at war with his father for as long as he can remember. Following angry outbursts at his football coach and English teacher that have cost him his spot on the football team and moved him dangerously close to expulsion from school, he turns to the only adult he believes will listen: Larry King. In his letters to Larry, Bo describes his quest for excellence on his own terms. No more coaches for me, he tells the talk show icon, no more dads. I'm going to be a triathlete, an Ironman. Relegated to Mr. Nak's before-school Anger Management group (which he initially believes to be populated with future serial killers and freeway snipers), Bo meets a hard-edged, down-on-their-luck pack of survivors with stainless steel shields against the world that Bo comes to see are not so different from his own. It is here he meets and falls in love with Shelly, a future American Gladiator, whose passion for physical challenge more than matches his. Ironman is a funny, sometimes heartbreaking story about growing up in the heart of struggle. It is about standing up, getting knocked down, and standing up again. It is about being heard--and learning to listen.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 Ironman May 16, 2008
Chris Crutcher's books run along similar lines - the male protagonist, their problem, and a strong female as well, all surrounding some athletic dispute of sorts. This is a very good and strong characteristic for these books, as it will likely encourage many young male readers who feel that most teen books are geared for girls only.
"Ironman" is one such book that most likely appeals far more to boys than it does to girls. The sports/athletic theme runs very strong through here, and is pivotal to the plot. However, this is not a sports novel. It's about Bo, his anger-management problem (though he doesn't believe there is one), his problems with his father, and his need to race.
"Ironman" is psychologically stimulating. Readers will be drawn into these uncomfortable worlds, and will watch Bo's troubled friends begin to talk and explain about themselves. It's very interesting, enjoyable, and on the whole a really great read.
A few flaws, though. Bo's dad seems a little TOO evil. And the bad guys are just bad - there are few gray shades here. Similarly, most of the side characters are pretty bland. The book doesn't delve much into specifics regarding many characters. Also, alternating voices makes it somewhat annoying/difficult to follow.
On the whole, though, a good book, especially for teenage boys. Not Crutcher's best, but recommended nonetheless.
 An awesome read personally or academically!!! November 29, 2007
This novel has very powerful characters that will stay with you. There are many different themes, like abuse, friendship, and family, that bring you into the backgrounds of people. They make you think about why people might act the way they do. I just finished teaching this novel to a 10th grade class and they also enjoyed it. There are so many different things you can do with it!! - videos on youtube.com, research papers, etc.
Chris Crutcher ROCKS! September 3, 2007
Chris Crutcher, award-winning Young Adult fiction author, whose newest book, Deadline, is set to be released any day now, graciously allowed me to integrate elements of his novel, Ironman, into my novel, Courage in Patience, which is currently on submission to several publishing houses.
The headline, "Chris Crutcher rocks!" is bellowed by one of my characters, Kevin Cooper, who, prior to reading Ironman in his summer school class with the main character, Ashley, had never read a book in its entirety before.
"This book has FOOTBALL, man!" Kevin says.
As a public school teacher, I am keenly aware of the necessity of "hooking" young adult readers, by writing stories that they will relate to. I have Chris Crutcher to thank for that, because it was reading Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and Ironman that made me realize that there was a market for the stories inside of me. I could write truthful, authentic stories that would be embraced by young people and adults. I could reach them where they are.
Ironman is used in Courage in Patience as a way of drawing the characters into an exploration of their own truths. Beverly Asher, the main character's stepmother and the teacher of the English II summer school class, calls her class a "Quest for Truth."
I will be eternally grateful to Chris Crutcher for allowing me to use his wonderful book within my own.
In addition, I pay homage to Chris's style of alternating first-and-third person points-of-view-- which he used so skillfully in Ironman, to draw the reader more deeply into the story.
I can't wait to receive my copy of Chris's newest novel, Deadline!
SOMETIMES THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE LIFE IS TO FIND THE COURAGE TO FINALLY LIVE.
Courage in Patience
Ashley Nicole Asher's life changes forever on the night her mother, Cheryl, meets Charlie Baker. Within a year of her mother's marriage to Charlie, typical eight-year-old Ashley's life becomes a nightmare of sexual abuse and emotional neglect. Bundling her body in blankets and sleeping in her closet to try to avoid Charlie's nighttime assaults, she is driven by rage at age 14 to to tell her mother, in spite of the threats Charlie has used to keep Ashley silent. Believing that telling will make Charlie go away, instead it reveals to Ashley where she lies on her mother's list of priorities.
"We're just going to move on now," Cheryl tells Ashley. "Go to your room." Ashley's psyche splinters into shards of glass, and she desperately tries to figure a way out, while at the same time battling numbness and an inability to remember what happened when she blacked out after Charlie tackled her. She knew that when she awoke her clothes were disheveled and the lower-half of her body was covered in bright red blood-- but she has only a blank spot in the "video" of her memory.
When Ashley's friend, Lisa, sees a note from Cheryl telling Ashley that Charlie would never "do those things to her," and insisting that she apologize for accusing him of molesting her, Lisa forces dazed Ashley to make an outcry to her teacher, Mrs. Chapman.
By the end of the day, Ashley's father, David, who has not seen Ashley since she was three months old, is standing in the offices of Child and Family Services. He brings her home to the small East Texas town of Patience, where he lives with his wife, Beverly, their son, Ben, and works with his brother, Frank. Its neighboring town, Six Shooter City, is so quirky, it's practically on the cusp of an alternate universe; a trip to the Wal-Mart reveals to visitors that "there's either something in the water..or family trees around here don't fork."
Through the summer school English class/ Quest for Truth taught by Beverly, an "outside-the-box" high school English teacher whose passion for teaching comes second only to her insistence upon authenticity, Ashley comes to know Roxanne Blake, a girl scarred outwardly by a horrific auto crash and inwardly by the belief that she is "Dr. Frankenstein's little experiment";
Wilbur "Dub" White, a fast-talking smart mouth whose stepfather is a white supremacist who nearly kills a man while Dub watches from the shadows, forcing Dub to realize that he cannot live with the person that he is, any longer;
Zaquoiah "Z.Z." Freeman, one of the few African-Americans in Patience, whose targeted-for-extinction family inherited the estate of one of Patience's founding families and has been given the charge to "turn this godforsaken town on its head";
Hector "Junior" Alvarez, a father at sixteen whose own father was killed in prison, who works two jobs and is fueled by the determination to "do it right" for his son, "3", and his girlfriend, Moreyma;
T.W. Griffin, whose football-coach father expects him to be Number One at everything, and whose mother naively believes that he is too young to think about sex; and
Kevin Cooper, a not-so-bright football player with a heart of gold, whose mother, Trini, a reporter for the local paper, is instrumental in exposing the ugliness that is censorship.
Every person in the class is confronted with a challenge that they must face head-on. The choices they make will not be easy--but they will be life-altering. With the exception of her mother and step-father, Ashley is surrounded by people who overcome their fear to embrace authenticity and truth-- the only way to freedom. But will Ashley have the inner-fortitude to survive the journey to recovery and the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Will Ashley find her voice, speak up for herself, and break the bondage of her abusive past?
Realizing "she's gonna need a lot more than we have," David and Bev enlist the help of Scott "Dr. Matt" Matthews, an experienced, slightly unconventional therapist who insists that Ashley can and must come out of hiding in the closet in her mind.
The Chris Crutcher novel, Ironman, is taught by Beverly Asher in the summer school class. When T.W.'s overbearing parents read the book, they decide that the book should be censored, and they involve the pastor of Patience's largest, most conservative church to lead the fight through the Purify Patience organization. Its mission is to cleanse Patience of Profanity, Promiscuity, and Parent-Bashing Pedagogy--all complaints the group has about the novel, Ironman. Its hidden agenda, however, is to return Patience to a time when "Patience was 100% white", "women knew their place","everyone had plenty of money", and "Christian values were taught in school."
The censoring, pseudo-Christian, white-supremacist, misogynist organization is exposed for what it is in a courageous move by one of its own (well..his mother threatens to twist his ear off if he doesn't speak up), isolating the pastor and causing most of his "flock" to deny they ever knew him. National and world press attention shine speculation on the dirty little secrets hidden in Patience, and its inhabitants are forced to examine their own values and beliefs.
Alone in the dark, Ashley must face her worst fears in a pivotal scene between her, Charlie, and her mother. Will she find the strength to advocate for her own right to exist in a world that is free of fear and abuse? Can she, like her friends, find Courage in Patience?
Ironman April 27, 2007
Beauregard Brewster, nicknamed Bo, is a 17-year-old, angry, trouble-maker. Bo was forced to choose between either having an in-home tutor or attending an anger management class, taught by Mr. Nakatani. In the class Bo met and fell in love with Shelly, a tough young woman training to be an American Gladiator. Bo's self-training to become an ironman, for the Yukon Jack challenge, was a major part of the book. Mr. Lionel Serbousek, one of Bo's teachers, allowed Bo to be on the college swim team he coached. Chris Crutcher tackles serious social issues such as anger management and relationships effectively through his use of format. Ironman is written through narration and letters, which Bo wrote to Larry King, a talk show icon. Crutcher gives an outsider's view of what is happening in the story as well as letting the reader hear Bo's thoughts. These letters reveal the honest struggle of Bo frustrated by his anger, his father, teachers, threats by Ian and thoughts, both nonsexual and sexual, of Shelly. As all of these are thoughts and issues which teenagers face, Crutcher uses language that is used by teenagers which adds to the book's authenticity. Consequently, an accurate description of a teenager's life is depicted.
Ironman March 12, 2007
great book for young adults. Lots of themes and examples that can relate to adolescent lives.
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