Lucas (novel)
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Lucas is a 2002 novel by Kevin Brooks about a teenager named Cait who lives on an isolated island off the coast of England.
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[edit] Plot summary
The story opens as fifteen year old Cait recounts events occurring a year before on her small island home, roughly two miles long and a mile across. She begins he story by explaining when she first meet Lucas, a mysterious teenager who has traveled to the island to explore and live for a short time period. On the same day that she first sees Lucas, her brother returns home and she is nearly assaulted by another islander, Jaime Tait.
However, Lucas is not accepted into the island community easily, due to the discrimination he receives at the hands of the town folk. He works a few odd jobs, but is the would-be-victim of assault, forcing him to defend himself and earn a negative reputation. Primarily this comes from Jaime Tait, a university student and popular islander from a wealthy family. The negative behavior escalates when Lucas rescues a young girl from drowning during a town festival, but is meet with accusations of molestation.
Lucas is forced into hiding. However, he feels an urge to visit Cait one last time. Unfortunately, Jaime has decided to frame Lucas for the rape, assault and attempted murder of a promiscuous islander named Angel, who had befriended Bill, Cait's old best friend. The novel climaxes as the islanders attempt to capture Lucas, who is innocent of the crime.
[edit] Characters
Cait McCann: Is the fifteen year old heroine of "Lucas." Cait is a strong willed teenager, who is hesitant to grow up as quickly as her friends. She is interested in environmental issues. She tells the story a year after the events occurred and is keeping a journal, recording the events of the summer.
Lucas: The sixteen year old title character. Lucas's mother had him when he was young and Lucas left hoem for mysterious reasons, traveling from town to town. He is a soft spoken character with the potential for danger.
Bill Grey: Bill is Cait's old best friend. When Bill grows up too quickly and becomes involve in a bad crowd, their friendship falls apart.
Dominic "Dom" McCann: Dom is Cait's older brother who returns from college or university. At first he is involved in drugs and the island's party scene, but comes to his senses when he realizes how dangerous it is, via Cait.
John McCann: John is Cait's father. He is an author of Young Adult fiction, Irish and an alcoholic, due to the death of Cait's mother years before. He is in his early forties and supports Cait unconditionally.
Jaime Tait: Jaime Tait is the son of a powerful man in town. Although he is engaged to the daughter of the police captain, he is a sexual predator who threatens Cait on multiple occasions. He is extremely prejudiced against Lucas.
Angel Dean: Angel is the teen friend and sort-of mistress of Jaime. She has a wild reputation for making bad choices and being promiscuous.
[edit] Praise
"Lucas" has received numerous pieces of praise from a variety of different sources. Readers at amazon.com commented that the book is "unique and unforgettable." Other writers and contributors to the website have the praised the book as being "a great and heart moving book" and commendable for "its sheer intensity." Another author compared the novel as a clash between To Kill a Mocking Bird and The Ox-Bow Incident.
Nicolette Jones of the Sunday Times praised "Lucas" as: "it gets to you. Then when this has happened, you want to tell everyone how good it is."
[edit] Criticism
Negative comments on Borders claim that Lucas "never quite lives up to much of anything exciting [...] the turtle pacing and overtly mundane account of every detail leave this novel selling the reader short." Another reader noted that the book contains "some pretty violent fights involving blood and unconsciousness, assault and attempted assault, mobs and a non-graphic, but still potentially distressing death. These really do add to the story but if you are particularly squeamish or touchy about the effect of foul language on your kids, steer away from this one."
[edit] Themes
Kevin brooks deals with a variety of different themes and main ideas in "Lucas." Most notably, he expresses the theme of coming of age through Cait’s narration. She changes a great deal throughout the novel and there are many references to her being both "an adult" and "a child," referring to her changing personality. There are subtle references to characters who grow up to quickly getting themselves in trouble.
Other themes include how discrimination and distrust of strangers (xenophobia) can have drastically strong influences and that redemption is always possible for those who look for it. In addition, Brooks explores how just one person (both Jaime and Lucas) can have a massively large impact on small communities.
