Chris Crutcher: My New Favorite Author Even Though I've Only Read One Book of His

The whole dang post is a spoiler but you know what, read the book anyway. Because reading it and reading about it are two completely different experiences, okay?

Okay.

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher. A small collection of short stories (only three, there's only three stories) that deals with anger, forgiveness, bullying, human rights, regrets, finding closure, love and letting go and moving on.

The first story is Sarah's (there's a little bit of Angus but it's mostly Sarah's). She had many reasons to be in the group. She was abused by her father, abandoned by her mother and disfigured in a way that she can't hide. She has a huge burn on her face, from when her father burned her with the potbelly stove in the kitchen.

Her mother tricked her into going up to her room so she can make a clean getaway while Sarah watched from her bedroom window.

For Sarah's story, I believe that the theme is not all humans are bad people.

At first, Sarah kept to herself, not letting anybody past her walls due to a tragic past. "I have everything to lose, Angus Bethune. Everything. You want to know how I've stayed alive so far? By never wanting anything...When you don't have anything, you can't lose anything." (Crutcher 66) She didn't let anybody in because she was so scared that they'll eventually leave. This was proven when she told Angus that even though her other friend wasn't gone yet, she told herself he was. She was scared that he'd sink into time; that when people go their separate ways, they go their separate ways and they don't come back.

After meeting her mother for the second and possibly the last time, she and Angus had a talk. Sarah talked about how she felt replaced, how she felt that even though she wasn't special, wasn't "shiny", she still hoped for somebody to protect her like she was. Like how for every shiny thing that she had, she protected.

Angus was that somebody. He wanted to be that person who would protect her like she was shiny because he truly believed that she was shiny. And he did.

Once Sarah opened up to Angus, once she let him love her and once she let herself love him, she changed. "Sarah is a different person...It makes me wonder what she would be by now if she hadn't spent her life flying under her father's radar and dodging the slings and arrows of her peers. A monstrous weight has been lifted." (Crutcher 76) She and Angus now work as aides. They tutor kids who are disabled like this little girl Amanda who is blind. Before, Sarah would never do something like this. She would never go out and help people because nearly all her life, she was a victim. But now, she is in a better place that's full of love and friendship because she let somebody in. She let Angus in.

UPDATE: Frick. I don't want to talk about this book anymore. This is the only thing that you're getting.