What. A. Story. Our faculty book club met to discuss a non-fiction book, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs, this morning. I think we would all agree that this book is compelling, relevant, engaging, overwhelming, and difficult to shake - not that we would actually want to do that.
For a little more information, check out this Blendspace. For now, I'm going to let Mr. Greg Soden speak about this story through his thoughtful book review. If it moves you, come check out this book in our library. You won't regret it.
Unheeded Advice: A Review of “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace”
Greg Soden
Picture a friend you’ve known your entire life that makes questionable decisions. Imagine yourself urging, pleading, begging, and nudging that friend towards what appears to you to be the “sound” decision in any given dilemma. Now visualize as the friend makes the opposite decision regarding the most critical pieces of offered advice, making the decision life and death. Feel the pain as your friend dies, knowing that all of this could have been easily avoided. Such is the wrenching experience for the reader of “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace,” by Jeff Hobbs.
Before reading a single page, the title itself gives the reader the knowledge that Robert Peace will die. It is a dilemma a reader must acknowledge before reading the text itself. Yet, from the very beginning, I was compelled to carry on through the story of a person whose life I knew would tragically end. However, the worry immediately subsided and I became entranced in Rob’s life, based on 300 hours of interviews (NPR, 2014). I watched his mother reading to him as a baby to his father’s questionable imprisonment; from his sporting prowess to his youth leadership abilities; from his study sessions to his full scholarship to Yale University; from his teaching career to his years of wandering towards his untimely, and indeed tragic, death. All eras of his life are gripping, and while you know Rob will not to see the ending of the book dedicated to his life, his life is worth knowing.
Reading a book in which a reader knows the ending is a surreal journey of watching a person make decisions that will potentially lead to the moment in which their life ends. As I read, I literally begged Rob aloud to not sell drugs, to not get involved in business with certain men, to heed to the pleadings of his friends, family, and teachers. And then the moment arrived, catching me by surprise, though I knew his death was imminent.
After finishing “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace,” I Facebook-stalked Rob Peace and found myself staring face-to-face with the man himself on his still-active profile. I couldn’t help myself; I felt I knew him and I wanted to feel like he was still alive. I lingered, dejectedly, looking at a poorly lit photo emphasizing his radiant smile. I struggled with the idea that he was no longer a living person. I sent him a message to say hello and clung to a shred of hope he’d write back...
I befriended Rob Peace and reading this book shook me. It was too real. I pleaded with Rob, gone from this earth now for four and a half years, to make slightly different choices. Perhaps, in some way, he heard me and is showing his captivating smile to those around him.
Notes:
NPR Staff (2014). Remembering the Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2014/09/23/350577398/remembering-the-short-and-tragic-life-of-robert-peace
Share away, my friends. Thank you for the review, Mr. Soden!