A Thousand Steps
By T. Jefferson Parker
355 pages
What’s it about?
It is 1968 in Laguna Beach, California and Matt is sixteen-years-old. He is worried about his stoner mom, his brother coming home from Vietnam, and now his older sister has gone missing.
What did it make me think about?
This took me back to the 1960’s.
Should I read it?
YES! I totally enjoyed this story. This is the first book I have read by T. Jefferson Parker, but I promise it will not be my last. He somehow manages to combine a coming-of-age story with historical fiction and then turn it into a mystery-thriller. Very impressive! Sometimes the language seems stereotypical 1960’s and you wonder, “Did people really talk like that?”- but I went with it. Laguna Beach in 1968 must have been one happening, groovy place…
Quote-
“Matt thinks it’s funny how quickly the under-thirty Lagunatics like Chuck blame the cops, the government, and the very right-wing John Birch Society for whatever goes wrong in the their town. And how the cops, the government , and the John Birch Society think the young are all drug addicts, draft dodgers, sex fiends, and communists. Matt wants to side with he young and the free, of course, but he’s not sure how. Smoke pot? Wear that lame tie-dye hippie stuff?”
