Never Say Always

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“Outside was a haven of relaxation that we would be robbed of next
year in high school. Children of all ages frolicked, but they weren’t
able to enjoy their free time to the fullest because of the yard duty
teachers that patrolled the yard like sentry guards. Yard Hitler was the
most vicious and unbending. No one had gotten by her in her career, be
it to the washroom for more than three minutes on a cold winter’s day,
or off the school property. She considered everyone to be possible
perpetrators and monitored everything with the watchful eyes of a guard
dog, the keen, radar-like hearing of a bat to pick up the slightest foul
language or the cries of the weak being beat up, and a huge nose with
wide flaring nostrils, built and trained for the soul purpose of
sniffing out trouble. She was an insurmountable force, indomitable
against every form of misbehaviour.”

This is a sample of a 288-page first novel by Neil Lewis. The prose,
unfortunately, reads like a parliamentary transcript, with every word
and gesture described in burdensome detail. Obvious literary images slow
the pace down like fur on a cue ball. Lewis’ main theme is that Grade
8 is boring and, if nothing else, he has certainly captured the moment.
Not recommended.