The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green

by Joshua Braff
PRMS paperback 259 pages
genre: YA coming-of-age

I was curious about this book and whether it "fit" as a title for my more mature readers. It was left here by the Freshman Center librarian. I also saw it on a recommended list by . . . John Green? Or some other notable YA source. Anyhow, I finally read it.

Jacob is a good Jewish boy, doing what it takes to make his dad happy (except for doing well in school - his learning disability makes that tough). As dad's narcissistic behavior alienates Jacob's older brother Asher and everyone else in the family, Jacob strives to calm his dad down. His ability to sing and read the Hebrew for services beautifully does not help him survive the transition to public school, his parents' divorce, or his own growing desire for escape from his father's anger.

Swearing, some promiscuity, some illegal behavior . . . but has some good relationship storylines. I think it might be too rooted in Jewish culture to be effective for my students.

Some of Jacob's "thoughts" are embedded in the story in such a way that you think he is actually saying them . . . until you realize he couldn't possibly say them aloud without consequences from his father or a teacher. When his mother Claire announces the refreshments at a big party, Jacob finishes her unspoken words:

"And lastly, since I have you all here in one place, I have something to share with you. Along the garden ways just now . . . I too heard the flowers speak. They told me that our family garden has all but turned to sand. I want you to know I've watered and nurtured this square of earth for nearly twenty years, and waited on my knees each spring for these gentle bulbs to rise, reborn. But want does not bring such breath to life. Only love does. The plain, old-fashioned kind. In our family garden my husband is of the genus Narcissus, which includes daffodils and jonquils and a host of other ornamental flowers. There is, in such a genus of man, a pervasive and well-known pattern of grandiosity and egocentrism that feeds off this very kind of evening, this type of glitzy generosity." The rest of the text on page 173 continues this thread of analysis that Jacob is making about his father as though told by his mother. Powerful. Painful.