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Jumper

by Stephen Gould

I had heard about this one through some daytime show of all places. Since it had Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson of Star Wars fame, I figured I would check it out. As always (or at least most of the time), I started with the book upon which it is based.

David Rice is not your typical teenager. Besides being the victim of a drunken, abusive father, David learns he can teleport, which comes in handy as he avoids the seedy side of life. David uses this skill to leave his father for good, establish a new life--hopefully, with the girl of his dreams, and enact revenge for the death of his mother.

Good:

Although Jumper is neither an action book nor chalked full of hard-core science fiction, this book is incredibly interesting. We are promptly introduced to David (via first person view, a very apropos viewpoint for the scope of the novel, a good boy who loves to read. But when his father sees that he is reading instead of mowing the lawn, he gets out his belt to beat David. This is avoided when David suddenly teleports to the Stanville Public Library. The scene is well-written, the characters immediately interesting, and the word choices good. This smart writing and careful attention to character detail (namely David, as he is the only viewpoint given after all) is carried through the entire book.

David Rice is a very well fleshed character. He is good but not so good that he is above stealing from a bank, desiring revenge, and sometimes acting foolishly. He cries, he is angry, he loves, and he retaliates. Furthermore, he ponders rather intelligently how he developed the teleporting talent, the implications of the talent, and the science of teleporting (but don't expect to find the answer to this question). I enjoyed David's progression through life and hearing his thoughts about significant events in his life (his departure from his dad, meeting Millie, earning money, meeting his mother, etc.). His reactions are realistic and understandable.

Bad:

While a great book, the language and some of the situations are rather rough (particularly the attempted rape scene and the abuse scene). I didn't realize that this book was even targeted at "children" until I read some of the other reviews. Personally, I would not recommend this book for kids or for those who get tripped up by the aforementioned.

Lastly, David's life is rather grim. It would have been nice had there been a few more bright moments. But I understand what the author was trying to accomplish, so this is not a huge problem for me.

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:

The F-word crops up numerous times, particularly in the beginning, but also by David himself towards the end. Da**, he**, sh** and others also make appearances (mostly by the "bad" characters but sometimes by the good).

On page 8, David is almost raped by a trucker. He and Millie sleep with each other (alluded to and never explicit). A woman at a party propositions David. (Also, it is worth noting that alcohol abuse is present in the book in two characters: David's dad and a David's friend.)

This book is not hugely violent, just, for lack of words, "disturbingly" violent. David suffers under an abusive father. David's mother, Mary Niles, was abused so bad that she ended up in the hospital for a year after she left David and his dad. One of David's neighbors abuses his wife. A trucker attempts to rape David. Mary is involved in an accident, which is described in rather gruesome details. Another person explodes, and David picks up his remains (very gruesome for someone like me).

Overall:

I am pleasantly surprised about this book. Although a little violent and harsh (again, those with high sensitivity and children should not read), this is a good book. David is a great character with a unique talent. Those that like hard core science fiction may not like how this talent is explained, but Gould?s purpose, I think, was to show how someone dealt with the ability to teleport, not how it was done. Therefore, this novel is particularly appealing for those who want a deep character study spattered with science fiction instead of action/hard sci-fi. Had the language, violence, and sexual situations (rape scene) been toned just a little bit, I might give this 5 stars. As is, I will give 3.5 rounded to 4.