Review: Walking on Glass

Walking on Glass
By Alma Fullerton
Published 2007 by HarperTeen

Here is another short verse novel that I picked up for a quick read. I was not expecting the emotional punch that this book ended up packing. This is a heartbreaking story about a teen boy who came home one day and found his mother hanging from the chandelier, broken glass all around her. Now, she is in a coma, with little to no chance of ever waking up. We follow the narrator as he struggles with figuring out the right thing to do, while also discovering some unpleasant truths about his best friend. This is a novel with no easy answers, despite its short length. It manages to be surprising and complicated and really makes readers wonder how they would handle this situation. Readers can easily sympathize with the struggles the narrator is undergoing and wish that there were easy answers. A spare and tight verse novel.