Send by Patty Blount

Goodreads summary:

It’s been five years since I clicked Send.
Four years since I got out of juvie.
Three months since I changed my name.
Two minutes since I met Julie.
A second to change my life.

All Dan wants for his senior year is to be invisible. This is his last chance at a semi-normal life. Nobody here knows who he is. Or what he’s done. But on his first day at school, instead of turning away like everyone else, Dan breaks up a fight. Because Dan knows what it’s like to be terrorized by a bully—he used to be one.

Now the whole school thinks he’s some kind of hero—except Julie. She looks at him like she knows he has a secret. Like she knows his name isn’t really Daniel...

Review

I thought SEND was going to be one cutesy story about a reformed bad boy, who just wanted to forget his bad deeds, protect the weak, and get the girl of his dreams. Oh, it sort of happened like that... just sort of.

Dan has been carrying around his guilt for years. He just wants a fresh new start in a new town and in a new school where, hopefully, no one can recognize him. This transition would have been easier if Kenny - his 13-year-old self, manifested from his instinct to survive in juvie, guilt, and fear - would just shut up and leave him alone. But Kenny is too stubborn to not miss a chance to torment Dan with his sarcasm and jokes.

The interaction between Dan and Kenny is odd and interesting. Kenny is Dan when he was thirteen, before he was sent to juvie, before he realized his mistakes, before he liked to bully other kids. Dan is the opposite of Kenny, the one who is on guard all the time, who just wants to move on with his life - if Kenny would just let him. The two of them together is a mix of fun and serious moments, where Kenny would vote for one thing and Dan would revoke it. They're like water and oil, which is why their interactions are always fun to read.

Although Kenny is quite a misfit, Dan is antonymous to the word. He is scared and just seeks for forgiveness. The thing I liked about Dan is that he is so fragile but at the same time he isn't. He is hero who would rather be just a passerby but can't because his sense of justice is too strong to resist or ignore.

The issue of bullying is the biggest factor that truly grabbed my attention in this novel because I was bullied when I was in high school and I cannot get over what my bullies did to me (and it's just sad that the bullies forgot what they did). So we get the insight of a reformed bully and he tells us of what it feels to hate himself, to be the one who is scared for his life and to become the victim of the aftermath he had caused.

The point of this very heartfelt novel is about Dan trying to figure out what he is now, if he is still that 13-year-old monster, who was sent to juvie, if he can really atone for his sins, and if forgiveness is a possibility.

Rating

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!