Asa

Asa is the main character in all four of the short stories that make up this novel. Asa is seven when the novel begins, a bright young man who is excited to show his parents the straight As on his report card. However, when Asa arrives at home he discovers that his mother has decided to divorce his father and take him to North Carolina to her home town. All at once Asa's life is turned upside down. Asa does not see his father again, but he gains a stepfather who is angry and resentful of his new stepson.

Asa grows over the next couple of years as he deals with the frustrations of a stepfather who does not love him and a mother who suffers from depression. Asa finds himself easily able to read people and make friends at school and he utilizes this ability in order...