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!

This read of a different type family was sweet but did not make me want to pick it up. Wrecker is an adoption story that turns out well but was definitely a book I did not mind putting down at the end of each chapter.

This was a page-turner from the opening of the book until the ending. It is nice to read about good people doing good things for each other. Wrecker is a little boy whose adults have failed him. He is lucky enough to be taken in by some of the most engrossing, kind-hearted people there could possibly be. This book follows him as he, and others, learn to trust again... and eventually learn that hope really isn't a bad thing. One of the most "happy" books I have read in a long time. Highly recommend it to anyone who needs a burst of brightness in their day!

I liked this book, but found it a bit disjointed, meaning I sometimes had to jump around a bit to pull the storyline together. The characters are interesting and it definitely brings forth the concept that family doesn't always mean being related to each other by birth, but can be what people form when the care for each other and make a life together. Secrets and moving beyond what's happened in the past to create their future are also strong elements. Enjoyed.