Missing the Piano - Softcover

Rapp, Adam

3.43 out of 5 stars

56 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140368337 ISBN 13: 9780140368338

Publisher: Puffin, 1996

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Mike, at fifteen years old, is sent to St. Matthew's Military Academy and feels that he will be expected to take part in the harsh treatments of others due to school traditions, but Mike does not want to be a part of it and devises a drastic plan to get out. Reprint.

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About the Author

Adam Rapp is a playwright as well as a novelist. His work has been produced and developed by the New York Theatre Workshop, the Steppenwolf Theater Company, New York City's Public Theatre, and The Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. Mr. Rapp lives in New York City. The Buffalo Tree is his second novel.

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Mike, who is looking forward to trying out for his high school basketball team, has his world turned upside down by a chain of events that occurs after his younger sister gets a part in the road show of Les Miserables. Since their mother must travel with Alice, Mike is sent to live with his father, whose second wife wants no part of this new arrangement. The boy suddenly finds himself enrolled in St. Matthew's Military Academy, a boarding school ``where boys become men.'' Rapp portrays the school as an extremely bleak place where abuse and bigotry are constants. Mike is continually badgered, bullied, and bloodied, even on the basketball court, the one place he hoped to find refuge. His black roommate is expelled after physically confronting one of his tormenters, but Mike hangs on, largely because he has no where else to go. The ending offers a glimmer of hope but doesn't dismiss any of Mike's ongoing problems. Rapp produces an above-average read, showing a knack for sustaining the tense mood of the story. The subplot involving the racially motivated hazing is a bit weak. The character development of the cadets who display the blatant bigotry is slight, offering readers no insight into their actions. The language throughout is sharp and raw, and a number of mature situations are presented. All in all, a dark story that leaves plenty of room for a sequel.-Tom S. Hurlburt, La Crosse Public Library, WI

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