She's a black belt.
She's practiced and sparred and competed.
She freezes when true danger strikes.
The journey to black belt in Tae Kwon Do or any martial art is long and rigorous, but under controlled conditions with traditions and rules to follow.
Imogen mentally punishes herself for not springing into action when the gunman attacks - can she fight through survivor's guilt to become a young woman of action and purpose again?
Just published this week, Bruised follows Imo as she tries to rebuild her life to include Ricky's love and fill the void left by Shelley's departure for dance school and her own absence from Grandmaster Huan's dojang.
How would you react when a situation bursts into violence?
**kmm
Book info: Bruised / Sarah Skilton. Amulet Books, 2013. [author's website] [publisher site]
She's practiced and sparred and competed.
She freezes when true danger strikes.
The journey to black belt in Tae Kwon Do or any martial art is long and rigorous, but under controlled conditions with traditions and rules to follow.
Imogen mentally punishes herself for not springing into action when the gunman attacks - can she fight through survivor's guilt to become a young woman of action and purpose again?
Just published this week, Bruised follows Imo as she tries to rebuild her life to include Ricky's love and fill the void left by Shelley's departure for dance school and her own absence from Grandmaster Huan's dojang.
How would you react when a situation bursts into violence?
**kmm
Book info: Bruised / Sarah Skilton. Amulet Books, 2013. [author's website] [publisher site]
My Recommendation: As the youngest female to earn a black belt at the dojang, Imogen
was sure she could handle any attack. But the gunman at the diner proved her
wrong, undid her whole life’s work as a defender of the helpless. How can she
get past the blood-drenched scene when her mind has built a wall around the
robbery gone wrong?
Tae Kwon Do is what she does, what she is, but she just
froze at the diner, didn’t stop the robber before he pistol-whipped the cashier.
She can remember hiding under a table, can remember the teen guy crouching
under the next table, his new white shoes that became gory red and were taken
as evidence, just like her bloodstained jeans. Gretchen called 911 from the
bathroom, was smart enough to stay put – but Imogen should have been able to
stop the situation before the guy was shot when he wouldn’t surrender.
She just can’t process what went wrong there. Can’t talk to former
best friend Shelley who decided to hook up with her big brother at Imogen’s own
birthday party, can’t pay attention in school, except during counseling
sessions with Ricky, the guy from the diner whose shoes became bloody evidence.
Her heart seems to be a lump in her chest now.
Being teased leads to a fight at school, to being asked by
Grandmaster Huan not to return to the dojang until she can regain her emotional
balance by truly living the ‘child rules’ at the foundation of Tae Kwon Do –
respecting her parents (including her dad who let his diabetes put him in a
wheelchair) and doing all her homework without being asked.
Who is Imogen without her time revolving around learning and
teaching at the dojang?
How can Ricky like her or respect her when she failed to stop a death?
Why can’t she remember what happened between crouching under
the table and being blood-soaked in the police car?
A compelling story of expectations versus reality, Imogen’s
heart and psyche are so Bruised that moving
on with life will take more courage than any Tae Kwon Do belt test she ever
tried.
(One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
this must be somekind of action pack book
ReplyDeleteArchaznable - it's more an internal struggle for Imogen since she didn't take action during the robbery gone wrong. Strength comes in many forms, doesn't it?
Delete**Katy