3 out of 4 stars
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Jamal Jenkins was a pupil at the Rosa Park Middle School. Although dedicated to his schoolwork, the devil had a different assignment for him. He had to battle with the enticing beckoning of lust and find his balance in life. Could he withstand the strong temptation that leads many teens to a regretful life later in their future?
James Chandler uses It’s A Weight To Wait to tell the story of Jamal from his teenage years to his adulthood. As a teenage boy, he went through a traumatizing experience that involved his best friend (Dre) and the girl he believed he was in love with (Kayla). His parents, John and Regina, had to encourage him to overcome the experience. When he became of age, he got married and had three beautiful children. His oldest son, Trent, tended towards the teenage mess of sex and drugs. Could Jamal, as a father, help him through his crisis just like his parents did for him?
This piece of young adult fiction tells an amazing story. I liked that the author chose to narrate the protagonist’s story from his early teenage years. He shows that parental support is very important, especially during the most tempting years of life. For instance, John and Regina had to help their son, Jamal, through his teenage crisis. Jamal, as a parent, found himself doing the same for his son, Trent.
Chandler used Bible quotes extensively throughout the book to support his points of view. Since Jamal came from a Bible-believing family, it was only fit for his parents and the church to instill the word of God in his heart. I appreciated the author’s ability to develop Jamal character to portray that it is not always easy to follow the teachings.
Sadly, the book is not without a downside. While reading the book, I felt that the author could have given the book more flesh other than rushing from one scene to the other. For instance, the transition between Jamal’s teenage years and his adulthood was not properly developed. In one of the scenes, Jamal was meeting his future employer and in the next scene we meet Jamal as a married man with three children. The transition could have been better.
The book is not professionally edited. I came across many errors that really distracted me from enjoying the read. They included grammatical errors and missing punctuation marks. A round of thorough editing should be able to remove all the errors. Therefore, I gave the book 3 out of 4 stars. Teenagers and young adults will find this book helpful. However, I have to warn the reader that the book has some explicit sex scenes.
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It's A Weight To Wait
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