Batman can't fly door David Hines

Batman can’t fly

General Information

Author: David Hines

Title: Batman can’t fly

Publisher: Faber and Faber

Year of publication: 1997

Place of publication: London, Great Britain 

Summary

The book is written about a boy named David, he is 13 years old and lives with his mom and grandparents. His mom is rarely home, and when she is she is always fighting with his aunt resulting in his mom getting called a „mad filthy whore”and then she leaves again and comes back after days.His mom always leaves at night ‚nightclass’ ‚meetings’ or ‚visiting her friend’, one night she comes back at midnight covered in blood with swollen eyes and lips. Although It’s never mentioned in the book, we know that his mom is a prostitute. 

One day David is playing in the garden with a cape on when he asks his mom „if you could choose between being invisible or being able to fly, which one would you choose” to which his mom answers „I’d fly, I’m already half invisible” ‚Batman can fly’ he says ‚no he can’t’ his mom tells him. David insists on proving her and wants to jump out of his Grandmothers bedroom, he didn't believe he could fly but was sure he could parachute his cape. He falls on the floor and breaks his bones. His grandmother has to go to the hospital twice and then she dies, from there everything went downhill, they had less money than ever, David had been banned from the library -which had free soup and tea- and there was no food what so ever. 

When he went outside he felt a man leaning against his back, he talked a little and then asked him out for lunch and told him he’d pay, David didn’t have to think twice. When the man took David to his apartment he felt sick and fell asleep. When he woke up the man was lying next to him in a silk robe and was stroking his hair. David knew what had happened and wanted to leave immediately ‚let me go’ he said, ‚let me go!’ but the man had locked all the doors. A cold breeze blew across his legs and saw the balcony was open, he saw it as his only chance so he took a deep breath and took his best dive ever, and tried to proof once again that batman could fly.

Characters

The I-narrative, David: David is the main character of the book, he is twelve years old and turns thirteen somewhere in between. There is no physical description of him at all, but throughout the book you learn that he is pretty caring for his mom and that he is pretty creative because he made a sculpture at school that was shown at an exhibition. And he takes care of his mom because it doesn't matter how mad he is his mom, he can never get mad at her and will always stay at her side. I really feel like he got a lot older throughout the book because at first he is playing batman and he has a bright imagination and at the end, his life falls into pieces so it almost feels like he ages from    8 years to 15 years.

David’s mother: She is thirty years old and got pregnant at the age of seventeen. In the book she says that she regrets not finishing school and that she was all about partying and boys. She is really poor and lives with her parents and her son. She does not develop in the book because her character stays the same the whole time, you do find out she has a soft side which really cares about her son and her mother.

Aunt Enid:She is David’s aunt, but David’s relationship with hid aunt isn’t that good, there are more signs of that they don’t like each other rather than they do like each other. Enid doesn't live with David but does come over a lot to help with everything. The problem with her is that she can’t act normal around her sister (David’s mom) and starts a fight all the time. She does not develop throughout the book this is mainly because she does not appear in the book that often.

None of these characters really appealed to me because none of them have something in common with me, but if I had to choose I’d choose David because I got to read the most about him and his life. He is a tough boy who stands up for his self and others, and he is pretty creative so that’s what I like about him. 

I liked aunt Enid the least, it seemed like her goal was to always be arguing, she was always nagging and starting arguments.

Setting

The book takes place in London, especially in David’s house, the surrounding streets, and the library. A small part of the book takes place at school and at the hospital.

The events could take part everywhere between 1990-Present because it doesn’t show signs of time, for example new technology or older things. The story takes about one year, that is because somewhere at the beginning of the book it’s Christmas, and at the end of the book it is two days until Christmas so that’s a little bit more than one year.

The story has an open ending, because it ends with: „I looked back at him over my shoulder. ‚ trust me you can’t fly.’ he said. I took a deep breath, and jumped, it was my best dive ever.” So we don’t know what happened after he jumped from the balcony, was he able to run away? Did he die or just broke a bone? Did the man take out his gun and shot him? We don't know what happened at last.

The book contains no flashbacks other than ‚remember that time that..’

The point of view

The book is written in the first person also known as the I-narrative, he uses ‚I’ and ,we’

I think that his point of view is right because it doesn't contain opinions, and I think that if the book was written in for example third person that the book would be the exact same only then with the words ‚He’ and ‚she’.

The theme 

It’s about how your actions in the past, even if it’s a short period of time can influence your later life in a horrible way. David’s mom said how it was just that bit of time where she was more interested in partying and boys rather than focusing on school, and that little part of her life ruined her future forever. And right now, where she is trying to be a good person, it’s not working out because she has still got to earn money. There is not really another theme involved.

The theme is related to the title of the book, but not in a direct way. As I said she wants something really badly but it’s simply just not possible. The same goes for the book title „Batman can’t fly” David (and Batman) want that he is able to fly, but he is simply not, David tries to proof that Batman can fly, how much he wants it it’s not possible.

My reading experience

I did not have any expectations for this book at all, because I went to the library with the idea of taking one book that attracts me and seems fun to read, and one book which is a little shorter but still a decent amount of pages. It turned out that the book that seemed nice was actually really boring and I couldn’t think of how I was going to read another 250 pages of this boring book, so I switched over to this book and I’m so happy I did that because this book was really worth reading and way nicer to read than the other book. I didn’t know anything about this writer or about this book, I read the back of the book but that was not a good description of the book at all. 

The part of this book that impressed me the most was the end, the end where he is taken to the man’s house, I felt like that was the most exciting and impressive part because towards the end his life falls apart more and more so that is really the lowest point in the book. I can’t think of a part that I didn’t like, the book doesn’t have any boring parts because something new happens all the time. 

I don’t think I’d read another book by him because I have the feeling that all his books are written in some kind of dark atmosphere, and I don’t really like reading in general.