Ghost Medicine

by Andrew Smith

Overview

The summer before Troy Stotts turns seventeen, his mother dies. Communicating with his father mostly by notes, Troy spends his time with his friends: Tom Buller, brash and fearless; Gabe Benavidez, smart enough to know he'll never take over the family ranch; and Gabe's sister, Luz, who Troy has loved since they were children. They want this to be the summer of "ghost medicine," when time seems to stop, and they can hide from the past and the future, and all the ghosts that come with them. Troy and his friends don't want trouble, but as the summer fills with dangerous and fateful encounters, can even the most powerful ghost medicine keep them hidden and safe?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312629120
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	11/09/2010
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	830L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Andrew Smith is the author of The Marbury Lens, named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, and In the Path of Falling Objects. In addition to writing, he teaches high school advanced placement classes and coaches rugby. He lives in Southern California with his family, in a rural location in the mountains.

Read an Excerpt

I can see myself lying in the dirt, on my back, on a warm, starry night, with my feet up on those rocks, ringing a swirling and noisy fire, listening, laughing, seeing the sparks that corkscrew, spinning above me into the black like dying stars, fading, disappearing, becoming something else; my hat back on my head so I can just see my friends from the corners of my eyes. I can feel the warmth of the dirt in my hair, smell the smoke, hear the horses’ hooves as they move restlessly in the humid summer dark. And I can close my eyes and see the conjuring, electrified, and vaporous shapes of the granite mountains, those two fingers; parting the wind, luring the thunder in that time of year.

Editorial Reviews

A pitch-perfect coming-of-age tale destined to be held aloft alongside other classics of young adult literature. The story flows like stark, lovely poetry shared by best friends around a mountainside campfire.” —Voice of Youth Advocates

“Smith's first novel, a deceptively simple coming-of-age story, defies expectations via its sublime imagery and its elliptical narrative structure.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Troy wishes to be lost, but his greatest hope is to be found, and Ghost Medicine beautifully captures that paradox in this timeless and tender coming-of-age story. Not only will it inspire readers to prod the boundaries of their own courage, but it will also remind them that life and love are precious and fleeting.” —School Library Journal

“The slowly building narrative gathers the heart-wrenching moments together to create a fully engrossing tale. . . . Troy's attempts at invisibility contrast with other characters' desire for recognition and fatherly approval. . . . Smith canters to a satisfying finish.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Smith's first novel, a deceptively simple coming-of-age story, defies expectations via its sublime imagery and its elliptical narrative structure. Troy, 16, and two childhood friends spend the summer following Troy's mother's death wrangling wild horses while drinking homemade wine and sampling chewing tobacco. Each of their brushes with danger-a rattlesnake attack, a predatory mountain lion-they commemorate with tattoos and rituals in homage to the mysterious force they call "ghost medicine." The intrepid Troy-who, in the beginning of the book, reads sections of The Idiot and Jude the Obscure while hiding out in his grandfather's mountain cabin with his horse-grapples with his mother's death through philosophical ruminations: "There might be a God [but] He is, at best, ambivalent to all of the things set in motion in this world." In the periphery is Troy's first love, Luz, for whom Troy contemplates staying forever in the idyllic landscape, rather than leaving for college. While the summer climaxes with jarring violence, the possibility of a true departure never materializes: the outside world is held at bay by the inscrutable questions unveiled in the book's conclusion. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)

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Publishers Weekly

Gr 8 Up

Distant from his emotionally absent father, and missing his mother, who died recently, 16-year-old Troy first finds solace on a solo camping trip and then with his friends-Tom Buller, a wild and fearless farmhand; Gabe Benavidez, the timorous and underestimated son of a wealthy Western ranch owner; and Luz Benavidez, Gabe's sister and Troy's lifetime love. That summer is a journey of loss, self-discovery, pain, triumph, and growth as the young people try to define who they are and what they're meant to do. Oftentimes they seek answers from what Troy calls Ghost Medicine, a Native American philosophy that explains the strength and signs that can be drawn from nature. While Troy senses that change is coming fast and fierce, he never imagines the deadly threat the sheriff's son imposes when childhood pranks, jealousy, and vengeance get out of control. Troy wishes to be lost, but his greatest hope is to be found, and Ghost Medicine beautifully captures that paradox in this timeless and tender coming-of-age story. Not only will it inspire readers to prod the boundaries of their own courage, but it will also remind them that life and love are precious and fleeting.-Terri Clark, Smokey Hill Library, Centennial, CO

School Library Journal

To escape the ghosts lurking between him and his father after his mother's death, 16-year-old Troy Stotts takes a job working for his crush Luz's father and spends his free time with his optimistic best friend, Tommy Buller, fixing up town recluse Rose's decrepit house. When the sheriff's thuggish son tries to rape Luz, Troy and his friends engage in an escalating antagonism that leads to both death and openness. Though Smith's lyrical prose moves at a glacial pace, the slowly building narrative gathers the heart-wrenching moments together to create a fully engrossing tale. Understating the violence, Smith instead allows readers to create their own graphic images of skewered horses and gunshot wounds. Troy's attempts at invisibility contrast with other characters' desire for recognition and fatherly approval. Rose grows beyond a stock crotchety cat lady to provide moments of genuine humor and insight, very much in the mold of Terry Pratchett's Granny Weatherwax. After a slow start, Smith canters to a satisfying finish. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews