Angry Management by Chris Crutcher

Crutcher, C. (2011). Angry management. New York: Greenwillow.

 For this assignment I had the privilege of choosing a book to read from the author Chis Crutcher. I absolutely fell in love with Chris Crutcher's brash personality and sense of humor when I met him at the LSU YA conference in the summer of 2014. Chris Crutcher has written 14 books so far, and nearly all of them are on the top of my TBR list, and are often recommended by me to students. The first work that I read by him was Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes because when I was teaching GT 7th grade, this book was a choice for literature circles. I have always loved his complex characters and story lines and how relatable he is. I think that he and Laurie Halse Anderson are like writing soul mates as their books nearly always tackle tough topics like depression, abuse both sexual and emotional. I love suggesting his books to any of my students because I know that they will get more out of them than just a book about sports. I also really like using his Athletic Shorts which is 6 short stories incorporating some major and minor characters from his other works. I love to use these as read alouds to peak the interest of students. For this assignment, I chose Angry Management because is does some of the same things that I love from Athletic Shorts in allowing the reader to revisit characters like Sarah Byrnes and also get a sneak peak into the minds of other characters from his other books. I like that I chose this book, because I feel like it has opened up his world of characters and has sparked my further interest in reading his other books. 


Angry Management centers around 6 students that are in a anger management therapy session led by Mr. Nak (who reminds the reader a lot of the author and originates in his book Ironman). Since Chris Crutcher has a background as a therapist specializing in child abuse and neglect, the character of Mr. Nak takes on an authorial presence in telling the reader about our six main characters. This book is split up into three parts acting as separate novellas to express situations in which these characters have met and interacted with each other outside of Mr. Nak's Angry Management sessions. 

 First, Sarah Byrnes, from his novel Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes,  and Angus Bethune, from one of the short stories in Athletic Shorts,  end up meeting in Mr. Nak's sessions and continuing to see each other at the gym and for coffee. After both Sarah and Angus share their dark pasts, Angus realizes that he is falling for the deeply guarded and sarcastic Sarah. Sarah tells Angus about the awful time that she had in the past year when she tried to meet her mom to help her get away from her abusive dad, and how her mother turned away and ran. Since this last meeting (which was in the previous book Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes) her dad has been put in jail for a very long time and she is still wondering about the 'what if' with her mom, that maybe since her dad was put away she could have a better reunion with her mom this time. Angus suggests that they travel together to Reno to find her mom and finally get some closure. During this trip, they find out even more about each other and begin falling in love. After finding Sarah's mom and her little sister, also named Sarah, they decide that they want to give each other a shot for happiness by enrolling to be counselors at an all bind camp that is year round. In this place, Angus is no longer judged for his weight and size and Sarah is no longer judged for her burns on her face. The reader is able to see a happy ending for two characters that have a lot of courage and strength but often still ended up in very bad situations. 

 Second, Montana West, a minor character from his novel Sledding Hill, and Trey Chase , a new character to Crutcher, go to the same school and seem to have vastly different approaches to life. Montana over the past few years have completely changed her look from preppy cheerleader to major goth chick with piercings and tattoos included. Trey Chase is a bad boy with a slutty reputation on the football team. Montana is an adopted child and her father is the president of the school board. The principals and superintendents keep censoring her work for the school newspaper saying that an article on "Medial Marijuana" is just a slippery slope to legalization and that it was not appropriate for a school news paper. She is encouraged to write a puff piece/personality piece on a football player so that she could still be published, as in real life you often get stuck writing about things you could care less about. Through this, she meets Trey and interviews him for the paper. She quickly finds out that is more smooth and intellectual than she thought. He asks her on a coffee date to continue the interview- then she introduces her to his grandmother who gives a whole new life to her medical marijuana story. After encouragement from Dr. Conroy and Mari (Trey's grandmother), Montana decides to resubmit her article and bring it all the way to her father on the school board. The big problem is that her father is not her biggest fan, and they had a big falling out when he kicked out her little adopted sister, so she followed suit and moved out permanently. This story ends in an epic battle between father and daughter, school board and students, all with the public eye on them. With the help of Mari and Trey, Montana is able to stand her ground against her father and his tyranny even if she did not win the battle. 

 Last, Marcus James, a new character introduced, and Matt Miller, a minor character from Deadline, and their teacher Mr. Simet, a teacher from Whale Talk,  deal with a major tragedy in a small midwest town. The story starts off with Marcus walking into Mr. Simet's classroom late and with a pink noose around his neck. He said he would wear it because it was obviously a gift as someone left it on his gym locker for him. Marcus is a highly intelligent black gay young man, in a small town that he is nearly the only African American male in his school and one of only a few openly gay. Mr. Simet, seemingly the only one taking this threat seriously, as the administration would rather punish Marcus because they do not want bad press. The principal decides to hold an assembly the next day regarding the incident which only puts a target on Marcus's back. Matt Miller, a devout christian and truth believer, stands up to the mike and tells the truth that he knows exactly who did it and that he overheard them in the locker room. This all comes to a boil, when the boys that are accused (and most certainly did it) get suspended from the football team and take it out on Marcus. Marcus was an aspiring open water swimmer, and often went to swim in the local lake. The boys killed Marcus by running him over in a boat, and claiming that it was an accident. The rest of the story follows Matt Miller and Mr. Simet as they try to deal with this tragedy and bring the boys to justice. 

 I really liked this book because it was so easy and enjoyable to read and the weaving together of the different characters from different books. I have always been a big serial reader when it came to authors, as I am not a big series reader. I love when authors are able to bring together different characters and different stories that allow the reader to imagine their lives past the books they were first in. The themes in this book relate both to their original stories, but also stand alone. As it says on the back of the book they are "stories about prejudice, rage, and hope" which are all very powerful. I think this has merit in the fact that it is a great reading ladder to other books of his. Chris Crutcher has a large variety of works, and this book lets you have a taste (the first potato chip or ice cream sample) of what to expect in his other works, while also being able to stand alone. 


Other books that you might like based on Angry Management: 

  • Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher (characters shared in this novel)
  • Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher (characters shared in this novel)
  • Ironman by Chris Crutcher (characters shared in this novel)
  • Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (characters shared in this novel)
  • Deadline by Chris Crutcher (characters shared in this novel)
  • Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher (characters shared in this novel)
  • Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak and Catalyst are set in the same place and you can see some of the characters crossover) 
  • Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak and Catalyst are set in the same place and you can see some of the characters crossover) 

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