SuitabookDrug use as coping and consequence
Lil J uses drugs and stolen pain pills to relax when circumstances feel too heavy; later, he begins to experience withdrawal.
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Book details
Walter Dean Myers - Author
This is a tense story about Lil J using drugs to manage pressure, becoming caught in a dangerous deal, and encountering a possible supernatural route towards changing what happened.
The itch starts when things get too heavy for Lil J. Skin popping or stealing pain pills from his mom help him relax. But Lil J's focus is wandering because money is short, and his man Rico knows a way to make some quick cash. It's supposed to be an easy deal, but it isn't so simple when the buyer is an undercover cop.With a gunshot wound to the arm, Rico in jail, and a police officer clinging to life, Lil J is starting to get dope sick. He'd do anything to change the last twenty-four hours, and when he stumbles into an abandoned crack house, it actually might be possible. . . .Walter Dean Myers weaves elements of magical realism into a harrowing story about drug use, violence, alternate perceptions of reality, and second chances.
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Sign in for personalised guidanceThis is a tense story about Lil J using drugs to manage pressure, becoming caught in a dangerous deal, and encountering a possible supernatural route towards changing what happened.
Lil J uses drugs and stolen pain pills to relax when circumstances feel too heavy; later, he begins to experience withdrawal.
Money is short, Rico proposes a quick-money deal, and the encounter results in injury, arrest and a police officer clinging to life.
After the crisis, Lil J enters an abandoned crack house where changing the previous twenty-four hours may be possible.
Be ready for material involving drug use and withdrawal, theft, a gunshot wound, a deal involving an undercover police officer, imprisonment and a police officer near death. The emotional intensity may be substantial.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: the current material supports only a cautious reading; another book-specific source is still needed.
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