Just when you thought that coming of age stories are all about first love, confused sexuality and other stupid things teenagers do, Roland Smith's "Peak" appears on the shelf. I have found this on a thrift bookstore and was intrigued by the interesting premise (for a Young Adult/Middle School novel), and I was glad that I picked this book up.
It follows a fourteen-year old boy, named Peak (like the mountain's) by his climbing addict and estranged father. It turns out that Peak shares this love for climbing that he scales skyscrapers in New York. One scale turned wrong and next thing he knew he was up for juvie detention. That's where his father comes to the rescue, dragging him all the way to Tibet in order to flee from the sanction in NYC and attempt to summit Mt. Everest. His long-absent-in-his-life father is a selfish monster, Peak was aware of that. Now, he doesn't know if he's using him to expose his father's climbing company to the public, or his father just believes he could do it. In his attempt to summit the most dangerous mountain of earth, his life is changed forever.
Smith has created a raw, entertaining and youthful voice for Peak. The characters are well-orchestrated and very fun to follow. And Peak's relationships and interaction between these characters are gracefully presented without aching the story's pace.
This is a story of teenage angst, too. Peak's relationship with his father is silently affectionate, until one confrontation that is downright effective (for me). "What makes a story unique is not necessarily the information in the story but what the writer chooses to put in or leave out," Smith's words are consistent with how he works.
It's a unique story with a heartwarming end. A breath of fresh air from many YA and MS novels on the shelves.
VERDICT: A
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