The Corruption of Hollis Brown

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum

Hollis Brown gets beat up all the time. He doesn't have many friends. There are only a few girls that get along with him. He lives in a small town where people have little hope. There is a nearby "haunted" area, Rosetown. The kids go there. One bully beats up Hollis. Hollis leaves with a girl. Later the bully goes alone and comes out with man injuries. Hollis and the girl bring him to the hospital. The bully initially blamed Hollis. Hollis and many of the other kids are suspended. Hollis meets a homeless boy, Walt. Then Walt jumps into Hollis's body and they bury the old body. Hollis and Walt do things together. Hollis learns more about Walt. He had lived and "died" around a century earlier. He inhabits other people's bodies. Sometimes it work. Sometimes (like the previous one), they fight it and can't be together. Hollis and Walt have many internal conversations. Walt normally has control, but lets Hollis do things at time. Once Walt comes into the picture, Hollis starts to become more popular. Walt's friends eventually decide something is up. His friend from Nigeria knows some incantations and do things. Walt and Hollis learn to love each other, and find out details about what happened to Walt's family.

The narration and storytelling is horrible in this book. It has a disjointed storytelling style that feels like it is stutters fram scene to scene. Suddenly the narrative will jump and change to a new key point. The characters are mostly caricatures. Hollis and Walt are the ones that get the most development, but even they don't feel real. This book claims to be "young adult", but author says it should be 16+. The idea could have easily been carried out without the many "triggers". The book as a whole feels more like a TikTok feed than work of literature.