Book review of For the Love of Peter Jones by Adaeze Okoli

‘Heartbreaking’ comes to mind, when I think of describing this book in one word. But I can’t limit the entire story of the book For the Love of Peter Jones by Adaeze Okoli merely on one word. Because that would be injustice, I will be doing it.

It is more than one word. It’s an entire Universe for Peter we are talking about here. It is about the struggle of a 16 years old boy, who recently lost his mother, and was kicked out of his own home by his father the very next day. The story is about a boy for whom every day is a fight for survival. A fight that he seems to be losing; falling into the dark abyss of hunger, depression, drugs and suicide. And the only person who seems to be barely holding him from the thread of sanity is Trinity; unaware that the thread holding Peter is about to break in half…

It was a gut-wrenching story that managed quite well to open my eyes to the harsh realities that today’s youth are facing in the western world. Author Adaeze Okoli in her book For the Love of Peter Jones, deals in an extremely sensitive manner with the inequalities between rich and poor, between unfortunate and fortunate.

I was pulled in the story from the word go. And knew instantly that reading this book was going to be an emotional roller-coaster ride. Despite it being Adaeze’s debut book, I was literally floored with the narrative. Though, towards the end, it felt rushed. This book. A few more pages, and it would have been a 5 star read. I strongly urge you all to read For the Love of Peter Jones. Particularly by teens and the parents for this book will provide a perspective from the view point of a teen on teenage, youth, homelessness, bullying, physical and psychological abuse.