Broken Pencils by J.R.Rice – 12 hours can change a lifetime

Three milestones. One day. Jonah Tarver’s birthdays will forever be dampened by the dark cloud of his best friend Keon’s death. On his eighteenth, celebrating his senior prom piles on the added pressure of making it a day to remember when he would much rather forget everything. How empty his life has been without Keon in it. The slow disintegration of his parent’s marriage. What adulthood has in store for him? His failures as a son, patient, boyfriend, and brother. When blood is spilled over a betrayal between friends and lovers, Jonah unleashes himself onto the streets of San Francisco. A 12-hour spree fueled by alcohol, drugs, lust, anger, depression, and the burning itch to find himself in any place that will teach him valuable lessons that he would never have truly learned any other way. 

Spoiler-free Plot

Trevon won’t shut up about sex with Maria, his mind and words projecting the explicit thoughts expected from the average, hormone-driven, athletic teenage male. Offerings of alcohol and other party favors are thrown out towards Jonah as he steers his father’s Mercedes to pick up the girls—their girls— on the way to prom. Jonah’s unmedicated mind struggles to focus on anything. Whenever his thoughts drift away from the present, Keon sends his regards in the form of his favorite Langston Hughes quotes; these memories are all Jonah has left of him now.

Taniesha wants more than what he’s able to give. To talk about a future with her means forfeiting the feelings of the present. The disorientation, the pain, the sadness. And the comfort found in the familiarity they bring. The only grounding presence tethering him to reality, a boy he once looked up to, had been taken away from him. Jonah cannot promise her anything. Not when he knows that happiness isn’t something he is capable of attaining by himself. He goes around in circles. Skillfully evading admissions of love and plans of a life together. Blurring away the uncomfortable hints of disloyalty with cups of abandoned alcohol, laced with the chemical assurance of a good time. 

Everything changes in the bathroom. He loses himself to primal instinct, driving his fists then feet away from his deadly mistake, towards the unsavory shadows of the city’s nightlife. He discovers for himself that paradise isn’t as it seems, the existence of characters whose lives are ruled by violence and unpredictability, and at the end of the night he achieves some highly-coveted clarity, the cost of which might prove too steep in the days that follow.

My Take on Broken Pencils

Our introduction to the Tarver family dynamic is executed with a smooth subtlety which I really appreciated. Jonah’s mother is referred to as ‘mama’ while his other parent, Judge Tarver, is simply ‘father’. The lack of warmth and familiarity from the choice of titles alone felt very purposeful. It doesn’t take us very long to find out the reasons behind this emotional distance. While it starts in the first chapter, this theme is fleshed out further into the story with one of the points being the arrival of the homeless man, Pater.

My interpretation of the significance of this scene comes from Jonah’s interest in the Monument of Analysis sculpture featuring the spliced likeness of Hermes and Dionysus. The reference to these symbols of classical history made me consider the origin of the name Pater, the Latin word for father. When Pater rambles on about his children to a very impatient Jonah, his character becomes somewhat of a parallel to Jonah’s own father. Jonah feels as though his father views him as an accessory, almost like a puzzle piece to slot in to complete a portrait image of a successful black family for the gain of social credit. This mirrors Pater’s use of his children to gain sympathy which in turn may lead to monetary gain. Pater also serves the purpose of broadening Jonah’s worldview. Considering the fact that untreated mental illness is rampant among the homeless in San Francisco, Jonah’s exchange with Pater allows him to shed some of the negative notions formed around the homeless. Through conversation, they connect through their shared kindred energy; even though it is not overtly mentioned that Pater suffers from any specific mental illness, we can extrapolate this information from his behavior. When Pater finally asks for $5 at the end of his tirade, Jonah lightly reflects on his own privilege. Mr Rice’s use of Pater as the vessel used to deliver this epiphany feels poetic. A lot of readers, myself included, cherish stories that are open to interpretations that may or may not have been intended on the writer’s path. It allows for a more personal bond to form between the book and the reader.

I could wax on about the symbolism behind the Hermes and Dionysus statue, but I’ll keep it brief by praising the author’s use of its presence as a herald of Jonah’s journey through the night being a reflection of the two Greek deities’ roles and patronages.

And Speaking of black families, other major themes in this book include identity expression and respectability politics as they pertain to race. Through a number of different means—Jonah’s aversion to the words ‘nigga’ and ‘boy’, the use of AAVE, and pop culture references that carry certain connotations—this story subverts the notion of the existence of black people as a monolith. Characters indulge in stereotypical behaviors before expressing their own unique interests that lie beyond the expectations tied to their race in the very next breath. I enjoyed reading a story that wasn’t centered solely around black struggle or excellence, but simply the struggles of a mentally ill boy going about his transformative misadventures. If I were to summarize the novel in an intentionally reductive way to provide a small bite for potential readers, I’d tout this book as Oakland’s response to The Catcher in the Rye. You can feel the soul of the city in the writing, while empathizing with the growing pains of the protagonist as well.

Age Rating

16yrs and above

Content Warning

Alcohol, Addiction, Drugs, Foul Language, Mental Illness, Nudity, Racism, Sexual Content, Violence.

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