Monday, August 15, 2016

Good Kings Bad Kings

Good Kings Bad Kings: a novel by Susan Nussbaum  298 pp.

In spite of the subject matter and the awful things that happen in this book, I can't help but like it...a lot. A group of kids are residents of the Illinois Life and Learning Center, essentially a for profit nursing home where they are housed because of mental and/or physical disabilities. Each of the main characters speak in their own voices and include residents and staff of the home which is run by indifferent administrators and just a few staff members who really care about the kids. The addition of a disabled staff member to the home introduces the kids to possibilities they had not realized were possible in their lives. It takes multiple tragedies before things come to head and changes appear on the horizon. The characters suck you in and make you cheer for every one of these kids to finally lead happy lives.

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