Love Through The Pain




Mina Alkhafaji
That Night
By: Amy Giles




    Do you ever wonder how it would be like to be in a shooting? What would you do? How would you react?

     In the realistic fiction novel, That Night by Amy Giles, a traumatizing shooting occurs in a Queens neighborhood in New York. Even a year later, a lot of people in the community were still trying to heal. That includes the two main characters, Jessica Nolan and Lucas Rossi. Both of them were dealing with problems in their own separate lives but their paths conjoined when they started being coworkers at a small after-school job. When the shooting happened, Jess’s world seemed to shut down. She had to deal with the loss of her brother, who passed from the shooting, and her depressed mother all by herself. To add to all the trauma, her best friend couldn’t handle the incident and got sent away to a boarding school across the country. So, just imagine how much pressure was laid on her back. As for Lucas, his brother’s death made him want to spread kindness to the world as much as he possibly could. Doing that, as well as boxing, helps him relieve all his stress and it gets him away from his overprotective parents. They were both distant at first but their relationship grew into a friendship and then into something even more. As they became closer, Jess felt like, “Lucas is my escape. I want to take him as far away from this place as possible” (191).

     Personally, I do recommend this book to my peers. At this time in the world, we’re witnessing many violent events happening. Some of the shootings have even been directed towards kids our age. I think it’s very important that we know how to cope with these kinds of situations just to keep our mental health in check. The two main characters in the book portrayed strong capabilities because they were able to deal with all the stress smartly and safely. “We live our lives like survivors, weaker in some places, but stronger in others. Scarred, but healing” (303). Teenagers need to know that, “Life is either about moving forward or looking back. We’re moving forward again, but we’ll never forget what’s back there behind us” (301). After reading this book and recognizing how brave they were after an incident like that happened, it made me realize that I can get through anything as long as I’m determined to.

      I recommend this book to any reader that likes a mix of hardships and romantic stories. There were a lot of depressing moments during the book but their chemistry brought back the bright moments. The story also includes many normal things that high school students have to deal with like feelings for another person, parent problems, annoying classmates, etc. So, if you're more attracted to a book you can relate your life to, this is just the book for you!

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