Shadow of a Doubt by: S.L. Rottman
Wearing “all black everything” every single day must be an easy way to get dressed every morning, right? Imagine this attire as defining who you are; as like being a shadow. In the book I read, Shadow of a Doubt by S.L. Rottman, a newly born high school freshman named Ernest Thompson goes by the nickname “Shadow.” He took this nickname not because he wears all black, but because when he was younger, he’d follow his brother, Daniel, and acted as Daniel’s shadow. Now that Shadow is a freshmen, he wants to start the year off right by joining clubs and being sociable, but suddenly his brother Daniel, who was supposedly gone for seven years has come back into his life, bringing back troubles into Shadow’s emotional roller coaster. I would recommend my book to any and every one but most specifically to teenagers because adolescence years are the most troubling years in someone’s life in my opinion. What S.L. Rottman does, is he eggs the reader to keep reading on to find out what will happen next in the book. You want to know more about what happens to Shadow and his family when Daniel returns back into their lives after seven years. Imagine, your role model missing for seven years and then suddenly comes back into your life after this long gap, you would have some resentment towards that person if they came back and thought everything was supposed to fit in place like how it was before.
The importance of forgiving is the biggest theme to me in this book. When Shadow’s brother, Daniel, all of a sudden comes back into his life after seven years, it really sets a huge toll on the family. The entire seven years it was known that Daniel was dead and Shadow doesn’t really know how to react to Daniel’s return. He doesn’t forgive Daniel that he ran away seven years ago and traumatized his entire immediate family. As the story goes on, he learns more about why Daniel ran away and why he didn’t want to return because it’d bring dishonor to his family, especially Shadow, because Daniel knew Shadow looked up to him like a hero.
The setting appears to me to be in a modern day small rural town where everyone knows each other. The fact that everyone knows each other plays a huge toll on the novel. Everyone knows Shadow’s family business so it’s not quite hard to hide it from kids at school, like his friend Vernon who knows about Daniel running away, by Vernon’s mother telling him. If the setting was New York City or somewhere busy with many people, it’d be different because most people would think of “The Daniel Mishap” as sort of normal and it’d just past by their minds. Since the setting is located in a small town, this type of thing is tragic and people look at you funny because of it.
Shadow is a smart, kind of a rebel, stubborn, social outcast, yet sweet at heart guy who wear all wears all black because of the simplicity. He deals with things the modern day teenager have many conflicts with, which include choosing friends, who you’ll like, and the burden of parents being on your case all the time. He struggles with forgiving his brother for coming back into his life. He doesn’t seem to understand why his parents trouble him for coming home late, when Daniel is on trial for murder. Throughout the book he learns that he has to forgive his brother because that’s his only brother and he becomes very thankful that he’s even alive. Even though the murder is on Daniel’s case, he has to understand the resent his brother has towards him, which is hard for him to understand. Daniel is the brother of Shadow, who supposedly died seven years ago when he ran away at fifteen years ago, he’s a rebel, but very laid back. Daniel doesn’t seem to care much about his trial for murder. He changes throughout the novel by learning more about himself and that being nonchalant all the time is not always a good thing. He used to bottle things up, which is why he ran away from home years ago because he didn’t have a sense of understanding from others point of views. He realizes how much of what he did years back, had an effect on Shadow the most and stoops down to Shadows level to try and explain what happened. Both Shadow and Daniel are important to the plot because they’re the main characters and are not dynamic like their mother and father.
The beginning of the book is crucial to the entire plot. It starts of as a flashback story describing everything about the day Daniel ran away. It was a very sudden introduction, which sparked the beginning of the novel at take off. Throughout the story S.L. Rottman used italicized letters from Shadow to himself, to show the readers insight from Shadow’s point of view, which was quite clever. ``
“That summer, he wouldn’t let me be his shadow anymore, and got mad at me when I tried to follow him after anyway.” (Rottman, 39) is included in one of Shadow’s letters to himself. This sentence makes it known to the reader why he actually calls himself Shadow, and not because of his attire and mysteriousness, as we thought at first.
“But I knew we were going to be okay, because we could depend on each other.” (Rottman, 179) signifies the importance of the theme. At this point in the novel Shadow realizes how important forgiving his brother is. This sentence symbolizes change throughout Shadow, how he lived and learned.
“Old events, so old that I couldn’t remember, were brought back to life.” (Rottman, page 190) to me symbolizes Daniel leaving. When Daniel ran away, the family thought he was dead for seven years straight. So now that he’s come back after all these years, the family seems to be “back to life” because everyone is back normal again.
"Rottman also doesn't adequately telegraph why Dan left home, leaving the reader few options but to chalk his seven year absence up to youthful indiscretion. Didn't quite work for me: I'd have liked to see a bit more of the family's dynamic," (Terry, www.goodreads.com) I agree with Terry because I didn't know much about why Daniel left home and wanted to know more about his relationship with his parents before he ran away.
"The throughout the book I did not know what was going to happen next,"( Jenna White,www.goodreads.com) I definitely agree with Jenna because the suspense kept adding on throughout the novel which made me want to keep reading on and find out what would happen next.
"Being a middle school librarian I'm always searching for good books kids can relate to and enjoy reading, this is one. The personna of Shadow is what our gothic-type students portray, and yet, many times is a facade." (D.C. Shearer, www.Amazon.com) Ms. Shearer couldn't have phrased it much better than this. I totally agree that any kid can relate to this book because it's hard being a teenager going to where to fit in and whom to be friends with, or even the way to dress.
The first major event in the novel was when Daniel ran away from The Thompson residence. The reason he ran away was because he couldn't deal with the stress at home anymore. The book didn't really give insight from Daniel on why he actually left, but it affected the family for seven years. They thought he was dead for seven years straight, so the next main event in the novel was the day Daniel called the house phone while Shadow was on it talking to his friend. As Shadow was talking to Daniel, he was in a state of shock as Daniel babbled on why he'd call. He called because he had been convicted of murder in Denver and needed his parents. This call affected Shadow in so many ways because he created so much anger towards Daniel. He couldn't fathom how someone could leave for seven years and come back convicted of murder, and still be treated the same by their parents, as if everything was okay. Last but not least, when Shadow takes a reality check is a huge event. He realized that being mad at his brother for the amount of time and also trying to fit in, was going to get him nowhere in progressing as a person. This part of the book really made me realize the theme, which is what S.L. Rottman attempted to convey to the readers.
In conclusion, I think any and everyone should read Shadow of a Doubt by S.L. Rottman. It's a great inspiring novel which I think any teenager can relate to. Due to the fact that many of us teenagers may think it's very hard going through such tough times, but sometimes we should realize others may have it worst than us which was one of the morals of the book. The theme of the book was to forgive and forget, which I think we should always be reminded to do throughout life as human beings. The book talks about being a social outcast, which I think every person goes through being an outcast at some point in their life. This book kind of guides you how to deal with it many things in a daily life.
Wearing “all black everything” every single day must be an easy way to get dressed every morning, right? Imagine this attire as defining who you are; as like being a shadow. In the book I read, Shadow of a Doubt by S.L. Rottman, a newly born high school freshman named Ernest Thompson goes by the nickname “Shadow.” He took this nickname not because he wears all black, but because when he was younger, he’d follow his brother, Daniel, and acted as Daniel’s shadow. Now that Shadow is a freshmen, he wants to start the year off right by joining clubs and being sociable, but suddenly his brother Daniel, who was supposedly gone for seven years has come back into his life, bringing back troubles into Shadow’s emotional roller coaster. I would recommend my book to any and every one but most specifically to teenagers because adolescence years are the most troubling years in someone’s life in my opinion. What S.L. Rottman does, is he eggs the reader to keep reading on to find out what will happen next in the book. You want to know more about what happens to Shadow and his family when Daniel returns back into their lives after seven years. Imagine, your role model missing for seven years and then suddenly comes back into your life after this long gap, you would have some resentment towards that person if they came back and thought everything was supposed to fit in place like how it was before.
The importance of forgiving is the biggest theme to me in this book. When Shadow’s brother, Daniel, all of a sudden comes back into his life after seven years, it really sets a huge toll on the family. The entire seven years it was known that Daniel was dead and Shadow doesn’t really know how to react to Daniel’s return. He doesn’t forgive Daniel that he ran away seven years ago and traumatized his entire immediate family. As the story goes on, he learns more about why Daniel ran away and why he didn’t want to return because it’d bring dishonor to his family, especially Shadow, because Daniel knew Shadow looked up to him like a hero.
The setting appears to me to be in a modern day small rural town where everyone knows each other. The fact that everyone knows each other plays a huge toll on the novel. Everyone knows Shadow’s family business so it’s not quite hard to hide it from kids at school, like his friend Vernon who knows about Daniel running away, by Vernon’s mother telling him. If the setting was New York City or somewhere busy with many people, it’d be different because most people would think of “The Daniel Mishap” as sort of normal and it’d just past by their minds. Since the setting is located in a small town, this type of thing is tragic and people look at you funny because of it.
Shadow is a smart, kind of a rebel, stubborn, social outcast, yet sweet at heart guy who wear all wears all black because of the simplicity. He deals with things the modern day teenager have many conflicts with, which include choosing friends, who you’ll like, and the burden of parents being on your case all the time. He struggles with forgiving his brother for coming back into his life. He doesn’t seem to understand why his parents trouble him for coming home late, when Daniel is on trial for murder. Throughout the book he learns that he has to forgive his brother because that’s his only brother and he becomes very thankful that he’s even alive. Even though the murder is on Daniel’s case, he has to understand the resent his brother has towards him, which is hard for him to understand. Daniel is the brother of Shadow, who supposedly died seven years ago when he ran away at fifteen years ago, he’s a rebel, but very laid back. Daniel doesn’t seem to care much about his trial for murder. He changes throughout the novel by learning more about himself and that being nonchalant all the time is not always a good thing. He used to bottle things up, which is why he ran away from home years ago because he didn’t have a sense of understanding from others point of views. He realizes how much of what he did years back, had an effect on Shadow the most and stoops down to Shadows level to try and explain what happened. Both Shadow and Daniel are important to the plot because they’re the main characters and are not dynamic like their mother and father.
The beginning of the book is crucial to the entire plot. It starts of as a flashback story describing everything about the day Daniel ran away. It was a very sudden introduction, which sparked the beginning of the novel at take off. Throughout the story S.L. Rottman used italicized letters from Shadow to himself, to show the readers insight from Shadow’s point of view, which was quite clever. ``
“That summer, he wouldn’t let me be his shadow anymore, and got mad at me when I tried to follow him after anyway.” (Rottman, 39) is included in one of Shadow’s letters to himself. This sentence makes it known to the reader why he actually calls himself Shadow, and not because of his attire and mysteriousness, as we thought at first.
“But I knew we were going to be okay, because we could depend on each other.” (Rottman, 179) signifies the importance of the theme. At this point in the novel Shadow realizes how important forgiving his brother is. This sentence symbolizes change throughout Shadow, how he lived and learned.
“Old events, so old that I couldn’t remember, were brought back to life.” (Rottman, page 190) to me symbolizes Daniel leaving. When Daniel ran away, the family thought he was dead for seven years straight. So now that he’s come back after all these years, the family seems to be “back to life” because everyone is back normal again.
"Rottman also doesn't adequately telegraph why Dan left home, leaving the reader few options but to chalk his seven year absence up to youthful indiscretion. Didn't quite work for me: I'd have liked to see a bit more of the family's dynamic," (Terry, www.goodreads.com) I agree with Terry because I didn't know much about why Daniel left home and wanted to know more about his relationship with his parents before he ran away.
"The throughout the book I did not know what was going to happen next,"( Jenna White,www.goodreads.com) I definitely agree with Jenna because the suspense kept adding on throughout the novel which made me want to keep reading on and find out what would happen next.
"Being a middle school librarian I'm always searching for good books kids can relate to and enjoy reading, this is one. The personna of Shadow is what our gothic-type students portray, and yet, many times is a facade." (D.C. Shearer, www.Amazon.com) Ms. Shearer couldn't have phrased it much better than this. I totally agree that any kid can relate to this book because it's hard being a teenager going to where to fit in and whom to be friends with, or even the way to dress.
The first major event in the novel was when Daniel ran away from The Thompson residence. The reason he ran away was because he couldn't deal with the stress at home anymore. The book didn't really give insight from Daniel on why he actually left, but it affected the family for seven years. They thought he was dead for seven years straight, so the next main event in the novel was the day Daniel called the house phone while Shadow was on it talking to his friend. As Shadow was talking to Daniel, he was in a state of shock as Daniel babbled on why he'd call. He called because he had been convicted of murder in Denver and needed his parents. This call affected Shadow in so many ways because he created so much anger towards Daniel. He couldn't fathom how someone could leave for seven years and come back convicted of murder, and still be treated the same by their parents, as if everything was okay. Last but not least, when Shadow takes a reality check is a huge event. He realized that being mad at his brother for the amount of time and also trying to fit in, was going to get him nowhere in progressing as a person. This part of the book really made me realize the theme, which is what S.L. Rottman attempted to convey to the readers.
In conclusion, I think any and everyone should read Shadow of a Doubt by S.L. Rottman. It's a great inspiring novel which I think any teenager can relate to. Due to the fact that many of us teenagers may think it's very hard going through such tough times, but sometimes we should realize others may have it worst than us which was one of the morals of the book. The theme of the book was to forgive and forget, which I think we should always be reminded to do throughout life as human beings. The book talks about being a social outcast, which I think every person goes through being an outcast at some point in their life. This book kind of guides you how to deal with it many things in a daily life.
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