Lucas (novel)

"Lucas" is a 2002 novel by Kevin Brooks about a teenager named Cait who lives on an isolated island off the coast of England and befriends Lucas, eventually falling in love with him only to see the island's prejudices come to life. Infobox Book |
name = Lucas


image_caption = Lucas, by Kevin Brooks
author = Kevin Brooks
cover_artist = Tony Stone
country = United Kingdom
language = English
genre = Realistic Fiction
publisher = Chicken House
release_date = 2003
pages = 359
isbn = 978-0-439-53063

Plot summary

The story opens as fifteen year old Cait recounts events occurring a year before on her small island home, Hale, which is roughly four miles long and two miles across at its greatest extent. She begins her 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, Jamie 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 Jamie 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 met with accusations of molestation.

Lucas is forced into hiding. However, he feels an urge to visit Cait one last time. Unfortunately, Jamie 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.

Characters

Cait McCann: Is the fifteen year old heroine of "Lucas." Cait is a strong willed teenager, who feels alone on the island - her best friend is growing up in the wrong crowd and she doesn't want to be a part of there toxic behaviour. Although she runs envrionmental charity stalls she's not as interested in that as she appears - she wants life to be simpler with teh friends she used to have and that's why she's attracted to Lucas, he's a simple, untainted outsider who has a both pure and animalistic instinct setting him apart from everyone she knows. She tells the story a year after the events occurred because her father, a writer, told her to "cry herself a story", and understand what happened better.

Lucas: The sixteen year old title character. Lucas tells Cait that his mother had him when she was young and Lucas left home for mysterious reasons, traveling from town to town but we never find out his full, true story and he remains a mystery which is part of his persona and without it he would be much less extraordinary and much more uninteresting. He is a soft spoken character with the potential for danger.

Bill Grey: Bill is Cait's old best friend. Cait misses the old Bill who used to enjoy trips to the library and looked at the world innocently. Their friendship falls apart when they begin to discover the world in different ways, whilst Cait tries to live her life quietly Bill craves attention and sex and alcohol and everything she thinks will make her more grown up and in fact makes her more childish.

Dominic "Dom" McCann: Dom is Cait's older brother who returns from 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 and like all prejudices it stems from his fear of Lucas, the threat of Lucas being so attractive and such an unknown qunatity.

Angel Dean: Angel is the teen friend and sort-of mistress of Jamie and Bill's 'idol'. She has a wild reputation for making bad choices and being promiscuous but underneath it all is just as lost, confused and lonely as Cait.

Simon: An unsure-of-self boy who works with Cait on projects. Simon has a crush on Cait and Dominic uses this to taunt Cait before Dominic changed.

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."

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."

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. More than just coming of age though, Cait sems to develop a better [self awareness]

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 Jamie and Lucas) can have a massively large impact on small communities. There are also references to redemption.

External links

* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0439530636 Lucas on Borders]
* [http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0439530636.asp/ A review of Lucas]
* [http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-brooks-kevin.asp/ Kevin Brooks Biography]
* [http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/51184967/ Fanart for the book]