Deacon Locke Went to Prom by Brian Katcher

Deacon Locke Went to Prom by Brian Katcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This concept is fantastic and heartwarming, though the plot is a bit all over the place. The pacing is off for me, as well, and the story drags after the first 1/3. It did help that the novel has a lot of voice, which kept me reading forward, even when I was staring to get bored.

Deacon is awkward and has a very dry, self-deprecating sense of humor that I find very funny, but it occasionally comes off flat, since those types of personalities can be a bit more difficult to pull off on the page. Personally, I’m a fan of his angsty internal monologue and find it easy to relate to, but I can see at times how it could come off as a bit too flip, like he doesn’t really care about much, when really he cares about everything. A lot. It definitely took me time to settle in and fully understand him as a character.

The side characters are all thoroughly enjoyable and add a lot to the overall story. Conversation between Deacon and Soraya is unnatural and stilted at times, and not just in a “everyone is nervous” sort of way. There’s something about it that just doesn’t always feel authentic or accurate for the way teenagers who are not in an inspirational movie would speak. It could be because there’s a good amount of telling through their dialogue, and it’s hard for that not to be awkward and feel out of place.

Regardless, I am happy that I read this story.

Pages: 400