What readers think of Raising Wrecker, plus links to write your own review.

The title evokes images of destruction and abandon, but the story is about repair and acceptance and comfort and wholeness. The intelligence and warmth and depth of this book were a pleasant surprise. I have no reservations in recommending it.

I absolutely loved this book!! Wrecker is the story of a little three-year-old boy who was abandoned by his mother after she was put in jail with a 30 year sentence. He was raised by three very different women: Melody, Ruth and Willow. Melody was his “mother” and the other two were helpful in supporting her but they often clashed on certain issues when it came to Wrecker.

Motherhood is a loosely used term here as it was such a different environment that Wrecker was raised in, a very unique family. The novel will pull at your heartstrings and keep you reading through the night.

This book will get under your skin, just as the boy character, Wrecker, gets under the skin of his adoptive family of eccentrics. But it is in the beautiful language, the beat and rhythm of the sentences, the pull of the plot that Wood really brings us to all the revelations about love and loving. read it.

Summer Wood has a keen eye for place, and for the ordinary moments in life that become extraordinary in memory. Here, she aims that astute eye on a ragtag group living on the outskirts of society, each member of the ad hoc family drawn into the same orbit by the centrifugal force of one small boy, Wrecker. This book is a fierce and unapologetic celebration of life, a lesson in nurturing and a reminder of the work it takes to get the real loving done. I enjoyed it so much.

As the mother of an adopted son, I often envisioned my child in the position that Wrecker was left in life. At 3 years old, the only person he ever loved was incarcerated. An uncle and mentally handicapped aunt "rescue" him and try to raise him. Or did he rescue them? Wrecker is the magnetic force that combines a random group of people who band together to raise him and love him. In the process, they grow to love and accept each other, warts and all! While the "family" Wrecker ends up in may not be conventional, the book deftly makes us realize love is all that is really needed to make up a family. Love is all that is needed to make all the difference in the world in the life of a child. This is a finely worded, uplifting book and a great story. I would recommend it for anyone wanting a change of pace!

Wrecker is a book I didn't want to end. Our social system for children is so unpredictable with so many children being moved many times that reading Wrecker shows what can happen to a child who is left in one place. The story of Wrecker begins when he is 3 years old and ends when he's 20 and the years between are portrayed by the author with much flavor, dimension and tenderness. Many people are involved in his child-rearing who are fraught with problems, seeking their own solutions. Wrecker impacts each person's life in a different and profound way. Book clubs would have many avenues to explore after reading the book. This book could very easily continue in a sequel showing what Wrecker does with his life - the decisions he makes and how he raises his own children. Great read.

"Wrecker" is an important tome. Should be read by young and old. Several people, having adversely suffered from the winds of life, come together in a remote spot of nature, to heal themselves. To start anew. By his accident of birth, they find Wrecker in their midst, a very young boy who needs healing himself, as well as, an inordinate amount of care and love. The story is vibrant, full of most interesting characters. Of resiliency of the human spirit. Of never giving up. Of adults, more or less strangers to this small child, being able to put themselves aside in totality and place the boy and his needs first and actually learn to love him. I recommend this book to all, regardless of age, the story has backbone.

"Wrecker" is an eloquent, loving, human book. It grabs you on the first page and never lets you go. The characters are utterly perfect. As an older reader, I often forget the names of people in books. Not this one. Wrecker is a book that will stay with you for a long time.