Bound To Stay Bound

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School Library Journal - 09/01/2013 Gr 8–10—October 2014. Rich is a guitar-playing 15-year-old whose parents, former hippies, are strict. When the teen's goth girlfriend talks him into performing at a rally for the legalization of medical marijuana, Rich lies to his father but gets caught when the man shows up at the event. After a blowup and Rich is grounded, he finds the guitar that Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock in 1969 in his father's closet. Rich is suddenly transported back to that time and place. He lands naked in the street and gets hit by a car. The catch? The car is driven by his father's older brother, Michael, who is fated to die from a heroin overdose a couple of weeks later. His uncle's girlfriend convinces Rich to join them on their trip to a music festival: Woodstock. Rich shares the backseat with Michael's hyperactive younger brother, David, who will grow up to become Rich's dad. While the book is humorous at times, the vernacular doesn't quite resonate as realistic. In addition, the teen's antagonistic relationship with his dad feels somewhat forced. While readers may be able to suspend disbelief in regard to the Hendrix guitar, it's curious that the teen doesn't seem overly concerned about returning to his own world. The novel is well researched, but it's unlikely that teens will connect with all the references.—Ryan P. Donovan, New York Public Library - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 09/01/2013 Dig it: Sick of his dad’s uptight rules, 15-year-old Rich trespasses into a private room and discovers the off-white Fender Stratocaster played by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. What the hell? Per an attached note, Rich plays the Jimi chord and is blasted 45 years into the past, where he is struck by a van containing his 15-year-old father, David; 18-year-old uncle, Michael; and Willow, the most beautiful, sad, magical, amazing hippie love goddess in the universe. Yeah, it’s a far-out trip. Soon Rich is living Woodstock firsthand, including special brownies, free love make-out sessions, mud, smoke, and the sort of music that changes lives. Aware that Uncle Michael dies of a heroin overdose after the festival, Rich sets out to save him—and in doing so, save his father’s future as well. Despite some didactic passages, Sonnenblick’s depiction of Woodstock is genuine, infectious, and groovy (he shares a joint with Jerry Garcia!), and Rich’s future knowledge wrings aching melancholy from what, in 1969, seemed like a utopia. Unique, occasionally profound, and appropriately psychedelic. Turn it up, man! - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

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