Location: India
Member Since:
July 21, 2012
subbu rajan
Smashwords book reviews by subbu rajan
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The Rebel
on July 22, 2012
THE REBEL- prods the lurking rebellious trait in its readers! The Rebel by Nathan Johnson is more of a psychological treatise in an engrossing narrative form. Needless, to say there is a lurking Rebel in each one of us. It manifests itself through gravest provocation of any form like a sadistic father, tormenting teacher, bullying boss etc. From a very tender age, John has been at the receiving end of eccentric behaviour of his father who spares no opportunity to torture him physically and verbally. There are a number of contrasting elements working on the psyche of the Protagonist of this story-John. John is not an outright rowdy element. He joins the gang led by Butch Jones only to vent the pent up anger against his dictatorial father. True to the human psychology, a part of him, detests this unruly behaviour –it urges him mend his ways to be in the good books of his mother. John loves his school and manages to get laudable grade. But, beleaguered by the Love and Hate relationship with his sadistic father, John is forced to don the facet of a Rebel. Pathetic but true, though John hates his father in his heart of hearts, he yearns for his love. I feel that all these contradicting characteristics of the protagonist –John make him humane and animate the story. I was literally glued to the book till it ended. The narrative techniques clubbed with dramatic dialogues employed by the author Nathan Johnson is quite enjoyable. The dialogues in the story are true to life. No wonder, I found it as nothing less than a treatise on human psychology. The Author Nathan Johnson recounted that he was hardly 20 years old at the time of writing this story. Nathan, Hats off to you for weaving this mind-boggling story. The Rebel is a book which you just cannot afford to miss.