250 hours

250 hours 

by Colleen Nelson

Jess and Sara Jean are two teenagers from different backgrounds trying to figure out their future after graduating high-school in Manitoba. Sara Jean cares for her grandmother who is morbidly obese and unable to care for herself. Sara Jean has a boyfriend who hopes to marry her one day and have a family together. Although her parents deserted her at a young age, Sara Jean is well loved in the community. Her biggest decision is whether she can leave her grandmother to attend university in Winnipeg.

Although in the same geographical location, Jess’ life is much different than Sara Jean. He lives near the reservation in a trailer park. His father was native and his mother Metis – so he didn’t feel that he fit in at either the reservation or the town of Edelberg. His alcoholic father had left the family and his mother spent most of her free time gambling. Jess’ rock was his grandmother, Kokum. He knew he was always welcome at her house – even after he was sentenced to 250 hours of community service for arson.

Part of Jess’ sentence was to help Sara Jean’s grandmother clean out her garage which was filled with things from her grandfather’s past. Through this experience Jess and Sara Jean discover a shared history full of sadness and helplessness. Together they help each other learn to heal and move forward with life.

I enjoyed reading this book. My favourite part was how the author integrated a sad part of Canada’s history into the story line. It showed how new generations are reacting to the disgrace of residential schools and how those directly affected by the schools are trying to move forward. It handles the disturbing details of the residential schools in a sophisticated manner – not giving too many details to upset a younger teenager but it still gives the impression that a lot went on behind closed doors.

The part that I didn’t like was Sara Jean’s description of her Gam. She focused a lot on her obesity in graphic detail. I would like to think that Sara Jean saw her grandmother for more than just her disability but also for the love that her Gam provided her throughout her life – even if there were some mistakes along the way. As a person who suffered with an eating disorder for a long time, I found some of the descriptions very triggering and I would hope that someone’s family would not judge them on their weight as much as Sara Jean.

Nevertheless, 250 hours was a well written book that explored the lives and the relationships of the two teenagers. It was interesting and grabbed my attention in the first chapter. It kept a nice pace to keep the audience interested. The main characters were well developed. It was easy to read making it ideal for a younger teenage audience. The material that is covered is specifically Canadian and appropriate for the time with all of the attention given to the abuse that the First Nations communities faced with residential schools.