The Weight of a Thousand Feathers by Brian Conaghan

The Quick Cut: A teen boy struggles to keep up with the demands of caring for his MS riddled mom and deficient brother.

A Real Review:

Thank you to Bloomsbury for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When you're a teenager, your lives are supposed to be filled with classes, emotional angst, and partying (or at least that's what every teen soap tells me). However, all that gets thrown away when family gets sick and priorities shift. If you're the one who has to do the caretaking, how does that change you? Or your perspective on life? Those are the thoughts this book works through with its lead, Bobby Seed.

Bobby's life is anything but simple. Even though he is only seventeen, he is the primary caretaker in the house. Between his mom who is losing her battle with Multiple Sclerosis and his little brother who is developmentally years behind, Bobby's life revolves around keeping his family together. It's a weight that changes how he looks at the world, but also means that the future isn't bright and promising like it should be. It all gets even more complex when Bobby starts going to a teen carer group and meets Lou... then the chaos really hits the fan.

This book is an emotional hammer that really hits hard. Bobby is responsible for far too much and is doing everything he can to hold on. Seeing him go through that, you can't help but want his life to improve and to see his family get better. Between the failing mom and the apparent cluelessness about his best friend Bel being in love with him, you can see how the chaos has cause Bobby to miss the obvious.

His mom's MS does play a prominent role in the book (it is not the only major plot point though) and it's quite enlightening the way they handle her condition. You see how her condition affects her physically and mentally, along with the toll it takes on the two sons. The accidents, trips, and days went without leaving bed - its heartbreaking to read.

The only issue I had with this book is the inconsistency with the chapter length. Some chapters were barely a page long, which is a reading pet peeve for me.

With more heart than you expect, this book about a teen grappling with his mother's MS is sure to rock you.

My rating: 4 out of 5