Swing

By Zola Kambandu Schilz

Swing, by Kwame Alexander, a novel in verse told from the perspective of main character, Noah. It is the slightly funny, slightly tragic story of a teenage boy and his best friend struggling to obtain popularity, join the baseball team and get the girl. The book deals with a range of topics from PTSD to idealized romance, there is something for every reader. 

What starts out as a casual slice of life novel turns into a web of unexpected plot changes, all of which redefine Noah’s high school narrative. What should be a mundane and casual high school experience turns into a telling of injuries, dramatics and even deaths when the appearances of unmounted American flags begin sprouting up across the town. 

The author sets the tone of the book through poetry, making Noah seem like a passive character who is not extremely outgoing. Noah is challenged to step outside of his comfort zone to face the twists of his teenage life. The idea of the main character learning to push himself beyond what he thought himself able to do, sets the readers up for a wrenching shock at the end of the novel that comes seemingly out of nowhere. 
While the end of the book is a heartbreaking twist, it is not one that could be predicted and it almost didn’t fit the moving and lively novel that Swing makes itself out to be in the beginning. Still, despite this, Swing is a book that pulls you in and does not let you out.

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