Hothouse by Chris Lynch

Several years ago, I read Inexcusable by Chris Lynch--the story of a young man who is convinced that he is a good boy and did not do that which he actually did. (I'll leave you to read it and figure out what it is he did.) The book was written as such where you really felt you were in the speaker's mind. In fact, at times, you started to believe him because he believed it so much. Reading it was a powerful experience.

So I was happy to see a new Chris Lynch novel in my school library, Hothouse. This is the story of heroes and how hard they can fall when we lift them up high enough. It is a good story for your teenage boys sitting in your high school English class. You, however, dear teacher, might just struggle with it.

What came across as the narrator's stream of consciousness in Inexcusable comes across as a botched writing attempt in Hothouse. There were times when the writing got in the way of the story. There were times when the plot just drug along. Truthfully, the plot isn't action packed. The story is slow to develop and slow to resolve itself.

Would I recommend it? Definitely to a student. Their tastes are refined enough for a character's rambling to get in the way. But it isn't one I would read again.