Alfie And Brett example essay topic

: : Book Report: : Pool Boy was a well written story about a 15 year old boy, Brett Gerson, whose life is changed dramatically. Brett is the main character in this novel. The book Pool Boy is set in a rich part of present day California. Let it be known that the Gerson's are EXTREMELY rich, not just fairly rich, extremely rich. One day Brett's father was taken away and thrown in jail for insider trading.

The Gerson family had to sell almost everything that they own to try and pay back the money to the government that they owed. They were forced to move out of their luxurious home to their great aunt Mary's house on the "other side of the tracks", which was the poorer side. The house isn't much, it is filled with dust and dirt balls and the beds aren't comfortable, but it is somewhere they can live. The struggle begins. Brett is forced to get a job to help pay for the debt, start saving for college and just for spending money. The first job Brett gets is at a fast food restaurant.

This is the kind of place that he would have never gone and ate at let alone work. He is always yelling at the boss and then the boss yelling back. This job does not work out with Brett very well. After quitting his job flipping burgers, he takes a job with Alfie Moore, the old man that used to clean the pool at his old house. Brett never thought cleaning pools would be this tiring. Worst of all, after a hot summer day of work, Alfie and Brett can't even take a quick swim in the pool that they just cleaned.

At lunch time every day, Alfie would have a new recipe something like "tabbouleh". He would make Brett try it whether or not he wanted to or didn't want to. The men became close Brett could talk about his problems mostly with his dad and Alfie wouldn't judge him, maybe a side comment here or there but not much. Often Alfie would talk about how he left his wife and child and he wishes his daughter would have given him a second chance when she was younger to make up for what he did. While cleaning pools everyday, the men became very close. One morning when Brett went over to Alfie's house early one morning, as he did everyday, he found Alfie lying on the ground, the door was locked, Brett threw a rock threw the window to brake the glass to get in.

When Brett got over to Alfie, he looked at him and whispered "I can't move. It's my heart". Soon enough the ambulance was there, taking Alfie off to the hospital. Brett went too.

The doctors asked Brett if he knew of any family, the only family member of his that he knew was his daughter, Linda. The hospital contacted her and she was there with in four hours. Once Linda got there she was allowed to see her father and when she came out she was sobbing. Brett introduced himself to her, she knew who he was right away. Once Linda and her father started talking again, they talked about everything, Brett asked how Alfie was doing she said "not so good, if he makes it to the next day, things will be looking better". Once Brett heard the news he was sobbing too.

He was not about to hold back his tears. There was no way either of them was leaving the hospital until they heard news about Alfie. The doctors came out and said " Mrs. Moore I have some bad news. Your father has died" They both could not believe this. The day after Alfie died Linda started to plan Alfie's what she would do with the house, his possessions, his money and how they would have the funeral.

Brett decided that he would not let Linda do this alone so he helped. When Alfie and Linda were talking Alfie said that he wanted to give his pool van and company to Brett, to help pay for collage, and five grand up front. "My father really cared about you, Brett. He thought you were funny and smart. And he loved working with you".

Mr. Gerson was sentenced for three and a half years. Mr. Gerson is a "white collared criminal, which means he didn't hurt anybody (but me I always say) " Brett says. Mr. Gerson was sent to a place called Hartsville that was five hours away from the Gerson's new home. Mrs. Gerson, Brett and his sister drove up to see their father every other weekend. Brett hated it, in-fact Brett hated his father, not just because he lost all of their money but also for not caring enough to not make sure that he didn't get sent to jail. When Brett went to see his father he would say things like " you " re an idiot and a loser" and there was nothing his father could do about it but, he could tell his mother.

On the car ride home Ms. Gerson would lecture him on how he should be kind to his father and how he was only trying to help the family for the best. A few days after Alfie died "The main thing the only thing, that really mattered at the moment was my father" After thinking that Brett got in the pool van and drove all the way up to Hartsville to see his dad. Brett was not even sure what he was doing there. After many hours of waiting to see Brett's dad, Brett did not say anything mean or rude and he didn't tell his father that he loved him or anything like that.

Brett just talked to him about what had happened to Alfie and now how he owned the pool business. His father talked about some of his experiences in college when his roommate died. When their time was up Brett was afraid that it would get emotional like with "I love yous" and stuff. There was emotion, but the only thing that they said was " Good-bye Brett", "Good-bye Dad"", This was really great. It was really great to see you", "It was really great to see you too dad, I'll see you again soon " Brett changed a lot over the course of this book. First he was snotty, selfish, and mean.

At the end of the story Brett is caring and sympathetic. He was just forced to grow up. Brett has a new meaning for life at such a young age. Michael Simmons does a great job of getting the reader into Brett's mind. The author allowed the reader to watch Brett grow as a person. The characters seemed well thought out.

The author made it seem as if the reader just wanted happiness for Brett and him to get through this tough time.