I recently read the book Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. I went into this book expecting to get a good story about a boy looking for his brother, but instead I got a lot of lessons about life. I enjoyed this. This book, to me, was more about the big picture than any of the individual characters. The individual characters were interesting and, for the most part, well-developed, but I felt like they were all used to convey a deeper message.
One of my favorite characters was Lucas, the main character,(Cullen)'s best friend. What initially intrigued me about him was how he was friends with the Cullen, even though Cullen described himself as a loser and Lucas as a popular guy, but with a maturity unusual in his age group. Lucas is close to Cullen's family, but also close to his other friends who are more vapid and occupied with appearances than Cullen and his brother Gabriel are.
I think Lucas keeps his superficial friends because of his past. Lucas's dad was abusive to him and his mother, and he had a brother who died. Lucas had an unusually hard childhood. Cullen however, had a childhood that was pretty much normal, two parents, no huge tragedy or struggle to overcome. However, neither of them is totally content with who they are. Lucas wants to fit in. Cullen doesn't. If Lucas grew up believing that he was different, even if it was an underlying belief that he never really confronted, and he's not happy with who he currently is, he might look to his past as a way to blame something or someone for his discontent. By trying to fit in, he's trying to make himself happy.
People always seem to go to things that they aren't. Probably because with the standards that are set socially today, not many people are confident or comfortable with who they are. So in an attempt to make them happier, they go for a change, something that they aren't to make them better. I think that this is what Lucas is trying to do.
