Henry’s father always said, “If you build your house far away from trouble, trouble will never find you.” Probably nearly every review of this book will open with that line. Trademark Gary D. Schmidt, Trouble has a tagline that is repeated again and again throughout the book and that quote is the tagline for this book. But, of all of Schmidt’s books that I have read, that one is the best. It fits the story perfectly, and it is an interesting line to ponder. What does it mean to build your house far from trouble? Is it good to have no trouble? Can you really hide from trouble?
Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt is a powerful and challenging story about racism and grief. Relatively modern (it seems to be set in the 1970s or 1980s judging by the prices of things in the diner), it reads like a modern book but not like The Wednesday Wars or even Pay Attention Carter Jones. Maybe this one is most similar to Just Like That (review coming soon), but even then it is considerably different. Instead of mixing humor and middle school antics with deep questions of identity, this one is rarely funny, and very little of it feels like middle school.
In most of Schmidt’s middle school stories, the main character deals with big challenges that are both internal and external. In each of those stories, worthy adults come alongside the young people to help them navigate the decisions that need to be made as well as mentoring the main character in some particular genius or gift. In this story, however, the parents are mostly absent, and there aren’t very many adults present. Instead, this story centers on Henry Smith, his friend, his sister, and the Cambodian kid, Chay, whose truck ran into Henry’s brother Franklin. Few adults are present in meaningful ways, and their absence is constantly felt.
Henry Smith lives in an historic home built by Smiths in 1678 “with the coinage of his seventeenth-century merchant ancestors.” Everything about Henry’s life has been about ancestral privilege and a family culture that seeks to be what everyone expects them to be. And, of course, living in a house “far away from trouble” so that trouble would never find them. Until it does.
Henry’s brother, Franklin, is everything that the community of Blythbury-by-the-Sea wants in a hero – handsome, charismatic, star athlete, etc. He is absolutely perfect in every superficial way. And, his future is bright. Until, while out on a run one night, a truck driven by Chay Chouan hits Franklin, and that bright future is darkened.
Franklin’s injuries are significant, and all that anyone can do is hope for the best.
In the trial of Chay Chouan, we learn that maybe Franklin isn’t perfect. Maybe, in fact, he is a racist who persecuted Chay and made his life miserable. Maybe Chay had motivation to hit Franklin. Or, maybe despite the harassment that Franklin inflicted on Chay, it really was an accident and Chay behaved heroically in the aftermath. What really happened is simple but not obvious. And it takes nearly the whole book for Henry to figure it out.
The town of Merton is an abandoned ghost town just on the other side of Blythbury-by-the-Sea which becomes home to Cambodian refugees. Chay’s story is absolutely tragic. Chay grew up in a Cambodian refugee camp where his father was forced to work live a slave while his mother was raped and their eldest children were killed in front of Chay and his mother. In fact, Chay was conceived in rape, and his relationship with his father is difficult at best. Chay’s family escaped Cambodia only to endure a brutal journey in the sea. Thankfully, a Portuguese vessel towed them to safety in Hong Kong where a church sponsored their immigration to San Francisco and then Merton. Despite all of that, Chay learned English well enough to be granted a scholarship to the fancy prep school that Franklin and Lousia Smith attend.
This story is gripping and beautiful. It is also terribly hard. I would not recommend this one to younger readers but I do think that it would be a good choice for a teen book club. Also, there is a dog in this book who stole my heart – and she has a substantial role to play.
Another excellent offering from Gary D. Schmidt.