Reading Log #7

Title: Like Father, Like Son

Author: Kevin Brook

Text type: Novel

Date Finished: 21/09/17

The book Like Father, Like Son is a book about a young boy named Johnny on the search to find out who killed his father. Johnny had a little help from his friend Marcus as Marcus knew a lot about the drug dealing business and the gang affiliation life. Like most other teenagers who may not know about one of their parents. Johnny had a million questions about what happened, how it happened and most importantly who did it. Johnny eventually finds out the truth after doing some investigating himself with the help from his friend Marcus and other people who had known what was going on to the point where Johnny’s father passed away.

The situation in this text was different to my situation and how my life is. Johnny grew up not knowing a lot about his father and being the only child his mother cared for. When his father was still alive; he was a really busy man when it came to the drug dealing business and gang affiliation life. Johnny’s father had an affair with Johnny’s mother when he was married to some other woman. Johnny also found out that his father had a child with his wife which made him think that he could have a step sister. I on the other hand know both my parents and they are well and alive and I have siblings that I live with too. I don’t have gang wars going on in my neighbourhood and my father isn’t involved with drug dealing or anything like that. But one thing I can relate to with Johnny is having a step sister that I had no idea about until 3 or 4 years ago. I felt sorry for Johnny because he was dealing with a lot. From his father’s death to gang wars going off in his neighbourhood to looking after his mother. Johnny was a very curious, very strong minded and brave. He had a goal and that was to find out who killed his father, as stated in the book, and he wasn’t going to stop till he go what he wanted. I can relate to this in a way where I set goals in life whether it has anything to do with my personal life or school; for example my personal life goals aren’t as big as Johnny’s but it’s the simplest things like getting a job and learning how to drive so I’m able to get my license. Johnny was also strong minded when it came to wanting to know all there was about his father’s death. An example of this would was when he questioned Marcus about who knew what might have happened the day his father was killed and he wouldn’t leave the situation alone till he got the answers. They then went to look for these people Marcus had mentioned. One person they came across was a young girl named Tisha. After talking to Tisha, Johnny discovers that the person who killed his father was sent by a well known man in the drug dealing business, Jack Taylor. The person that was sent by Jack Taylor was Tisha’s brother Robbie. After finding this out Johnny was determined to see Jack Taylor. I am strong minded most times but it just depends on what situation it is but Johnny has showed me that he is a very determined person and won’t stop even when he has challenges in front of him. As stated in the book; Johnny went to visit Jack Taylor but the receptionist wouldn’t allow him to see Jack as he was a very busy man. It even got to a point where she was going to call for security because Johnny was refusing to leave. Jack Taylor then comes out of his office a few moments later and has a brief conversation with Jack. This goes to show that even though he didn’t his father that well that he was going to do defend his father and help him get revenge on Jack.

The book Like Father, Like Son shows characters personality of determination and bravery. This could be an example to us that if you are really determined and strong minded about something that you really want to do or find out about; it’s important to go ahead with it being 100% confident with what you do. Even though there will a lot of challenges on the way it’s important to fight through them because in the end it’ll all be worth it. As Johnny witnessed himself, the person who set up Robbie to kill his father had been shot in the head by one of his security guards.