Father Figure

by Richard Peck

Book Overview

Seventeen-year-old Jim Atwater has played father to his kid brother Byron since their parents divorced eight years before. But Jim and Byron's world falls apart when their mother dies and their father--who is a virtual stranger to the boys--shows up, wanting to be part of their lives. An ALA Notable Book for Young Adults.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451088468
• ISBN13: 9780451088468
• Release Date: September 1979
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Weight: 4.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Different Perspective

This book was particularly interesting because of the great insight it gave into the male psyche. Being of the female portion of the population, this was entirely new to me. Richard Peck's impeccable (please excuse the pun) ability to bring us into the main character -Jim's- feelings, makes Father Figure a must-read for all those who enjoy down-to-Earth stories filled with emotion. Jim and Byron's father walked out on them eight years ago, and now, after their mother's suicide, he's back, ready to take them home with him. Florida is all new to these two brothers, with wonders like palm trees, white sand, and Marietta, the beautiful woman with the southern accent whom they all three love. Through conflicts and struggle Jim forms a reluctant `pact' with his father to last through the summer, after which he can return to New York. This touching story explains the troubles, obligations and, most of all, the pain of finding your place in a changing world.

Way Beyond His Years

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. I thought is covered a great deal of real life situations and occurances for a person so young. The story moved at a good pace from one event to the next and kept the reader interested by changing scenes so quickly. Jim Atwater is forced to grow up in a hurry and assume so much responsibility for just being 17 years old. His father leaves at an early age, his family must move in with his grandmother and his mother commits suicide to end a life of suffering. He and his brother, Byron, are then reunited with their father and forced to move to Florida for the summer. He matures even more while in Florida and becomes better aquainted with his Father. Jim plans to leave to return to New York but then discovers that Byron decides to stay with his Father. Even though it is a long 8-9 year period that is covered, the book itself moves quickly from one event to the next and keeps the reader highly interested in what may happen next. A good, solid, entertaining novel about Young Adult Literature and one that I would recommend to all young readers to follow the tough emotional life of a young teenager, Jim.

Father Figure is a must to read book.

Father figure starts when Jim and Byron, his younger brother, are picked up after school by their grandmother. At their grandmother's house they see many peple inside crying, and a group of cops writing the personal notes of jim's dead mother. Jim stil can't imagine why his mother would have committed suicide. Usually he tries imagining being Nathan; who found Jims mom dead in her car, and see his mother. Jim keeps and takes care of his brother, by working as a coach in school, one day his grandmother phones Byron to come to her house with his brother. Jim goes to Florida to start a new life with his father. Jim doesn't want to do this because his father left them when Byron was just born. On the plane they meet Adele, they become great friends. Throughout his time in Florida, Jim and Byron meet new people, friends, some that he would like to meet more. Throughout the long summer Jim misses his mom. He also meets this new friend called Marietta, and shares all his secrets. I really liked this book because its similarity with real life situations. It is a good idead to write about issues because they give an idea of how hard life can be from one minute to another. As the book is written in first person, I felt as if I'd been Jim, moving to Florida, and having all these problems he has to solve with his father. It was really a good book, which I recommend to teenagers, I give it an eight out of ten.

A Wonderful Book about growing up and dealing with change.

I first read this book when it was serialized in a magazine called Co-Ed which was primarily a Home Economics Magazine for young people.. It was the story about two brothers who go to spend the summer with their father after their mother kills herself.Neither one of the Atwater Sons Seventeen Year Old Jim and Nine Year Old Byron want to visit Florida but since they are still minors they have no choice. Their father Howard works as a Real Estate Agent who lives in a Two Bedroom Bungalow but their first night together is far from amicable. Jim blows up at his father for walking out and Howard's feelings are understandably hurt. The next day, Howard sets the rules down. What he did wasn't right but he still doesn't deserve to be disrespected in his own house. They reach a pact and as time goes on Jim and Byron grow to love Florida, especially Jim who loves everything from the Palm Trees, The Weather but most of all, Marietta, a Waitress who works at a nearby diner whose southern drawl could melt the heart of any Yankee, but when he insults her by insinuating a "Relationship" between her and his father, she reminds him sternly about how selfish he's been acting. She knew all about the family situation way before they came down to visit but all she did was try to make their stay more pleasant and most of all, it wasn't her fault that his mother died and that his father left and in that moment Jim realized how selfish he was acting. He was angry at his mother for dying and his father for leaving but what he didn't realize was that he expected every person to make up for what he felt he had lost. Eventually, he talks to his father about why he left and his father explains that when he and his mother got married, it was because of Jim's oldest sister Lorraine who "was born" before he and his mother got married. They tried to make a go of it but somehow they couldn't. He also knew that it was best that they were raised by their Maternal Grandmother and Great Aunt Alma who took excellent care of them. As the summer progresses, Jim develops a bond with his father and even works as an assistant at his office but when Howard asks if Byron can stay, Jim says no but as time goes on, he realizes he can't deny Byron a chance to have a father when he himself didn't have a father. So Jim agrees, Byron stays and by the end of the summer, the three Atwater Men put differences aside and reestablish a bond.