The Crazy Horse Electric Game by Chris Crutcher

I read this book in school years ago. Now I'm reading it again. It's the story about Willie Weaver, a young athletic teenager who is the town hero after winning the title baseball game. But when a freak water-skiing accident cripples him and robs him of his once amazing abilities, his life will never be the same again. He leaves his hometown, falls in with a bus driver and pimp where he attends a school known as One More Last Chance where he rebuilds his body and his life. In the end, he returns to his hometown, only to learn that everyone moved on without him and there is no longer a place in their lives for him, so he leaves once again.

Has anyone read it or heard of it? What did you think?

The Crazy Horse Electric Game

Last night I finished reading this young adult fiction book that I also read back in school. This is another one of my favorite books.

The story focuses on Willie Weaver, a teenager who is a star athelete and the hero of the baseball game that gives the book its title. But after a freak waterskiing accident, he is crippled and robbed of his talents. Now, his father is ashamed of what he's become, his parents start arguing, and he even lashes out in anger at his friends and girlfriend. He runs away on a bus down several states before he is beaten and robbed by a street gang of all his money in Oakland, California. He is taken in by Lacey Casteel, a bus driver and pimp who he starts working for as a servant and attends OMLC (One More Last Chance) High School where he rebuilds his body and his life. After graduation, he returns to his old home town, only to find that there is no longer a place in anyone's life for him. His friends have moved on, his house has been sold, his parents have divorced with his mom remarried and his father an alcoholic. The story ends with him going back to Oakland.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book again from school. Several years ago, I had read it again. So I read it again this month. Cris Crutcher, the author did an excellent job. Highly recomended!