Bright Lights, Dark Nights by Stephen Emond

Boston's Honorable Book Review
Tamara Raad

Bright Lights, Dark Nights
By Stephen Emond

             Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a teenager in New York City, in a time when racism, and family was more important than your own happiness? Do you ever feel divided by lines based on where you come from and how much money your family makes? In this novel we, see things from Walter Wilcox's eyes, and go on the journey with him through the city and the 2.5 friends he has, to learn more about the undiscoverable parts of New York where they all settle their issues. Like any other typical teenage boys they settle there arguments with fights and for them it so happened to be during lunch away from the school in some old abandoned basketball court that people forgot even existed. There you had your typical stereotype cliques clashing with one another, like always, but yet everyone always wanted a show to watch. Someone to fight the big bad bully. We learn that his father's a police officer and always sticks by the rules, but because of one good criminal catch, he ends up getting dragged into a scandal, where his and Naomi's relationship gets racially profiled. But before any of that we need to know who Walter is.
         
             The protagonist's is Walter Wilcox. He is not your average kid. He's the geek, the one that watches movies with his old man, but not your typical action movies. No, more like the old school movies.  He lives with his father, hasn't seen or heard from his mother since he and his father left at dusk so that her new boyfriend could move in. He so happened to be their neighbor but got too comfortable with his mother. He was the one who helped her get on medication and help her through her disease, depression. But he still keeps in touch with his older sister. Although she left him long before they split or any of the fighting went on. We see Walter isn't one of those kids who like to relive their childhoods and tell stories of how he grew up. He chooses to forget it even happened. But he meets this girl unexpectedly, and never did he think someone could make such an impact on him, let alone make him feel so alive after so many years.
         
             Her name is Naomi. She has a big family and is falling deeply in love with Walter. They have so many things in common but at the same time are also so very different. She's African American and he's an American boy growing up in an area that he's not use to living at all. In a place where he doesn't belong. They kiss, and play this innocent middle school crush, and try to do couple costumes for Halloween but little do they realize how different they each view the world. Although his mother is in favor of their odd relationship his father is the one he wants to hide it from. But also from his best friends.

             There growing up in an area where you stick to the people your suppose to and you don' t mess it up. But here they are, an interracial relationship breaking the stereotype wall and showing people that its okay to be different and to believe in different beliefs. But how will society fight them back? Do they live their happily ever after ? Or will their families and friends even the media break them down and allow stereotypes to decide what their happiness is suppose to be and what love is?