The Parkour Club

The Parkour Club is a rollicking good read! Bronte’s journey to find her place in the world in the midst of change encompasses her love of and skill at parkour, the emotional roller-coaster of adolescent family life, school negotiations and romance happen in the context of a cross-cultural thriller story. When a Yemeni boy comes to her school after losing his family. Bronte takes him as her friend and helps him find his way. Their growing relationship (he, too is adept at parkour) provide focus to Bronte’s seeking to understand her own identity. The inner voice of her character is vivid, authentic and sympathetic. She is so likable, without being too good to be true.

The context of the story is in the experiences of Yemeni refugees and immigrants making their way in a culture which often suspects them. The questions of radicalization and recruitment by manipulative terrorists provide the driver for the mystery of the book as it unfolds. Bronte’s orientation as a person who values those whom some of her peers view as ‘other’ places her in the middle of a conflict that is being lived out in towns and cities all over the West as people try to live together in the presence of those who are different, to create a common civic life in which each person can thrive.

I was particularly impressed at the presentation of Bronte’s spiritual quest. She wants to understand Islam because it is important to her friends, and finds herself caught up in the kindness she finds in its leaders and adherents. Her spiritual searching echoes the quest of many young adults, and it is treated respectfully and seriously. As a spiritual leader who has had my own share of conversations with searching teens, I was glad Bronte’s questions were met with such care. And: I loved the descriptions of parkour! The discipline, joy and courage of the young practitioners is a kind of spiritual endeavor all its own. I highly recommend this book—for teens and young adults, as well as for anyone who just wants to be caught up in a good story for a few hours.

The descriptions of Parkour are entertaining and opened my eyes to a new discipline that I was scarcely aware of prior to opening this book. The author's vivid narration of the actions and movement flow used in Parkour makes the action sequences come alive as you are reading. I enjoyed the descriptions and development of the main characters, and I especially appreciated the main character, Bronte, who is a teenage girl struggling with problems typical teenagers face on a daily basis (love-life, social hierarchy, peer pressure, fights with her mom). She makes several emotional decisions while facing the stresses and pressures that all teenagers face, but this occasional irrationalism actually makes her more relatable and believable as a character. Her behavior added an element of unpredicatability to Bronte that I thought was very real and relatable.
All-in-all, The Parkour Club is a fun, easy read for someone looking for an enjoyable fiction book interspersed with facts about Parkour and Muslim cutlure, two areas many readers may not have a deep familiarity with. Enjoy and Happy Page-Turning!

I enjoyed this book immensely. As with all of her books, Pam Withers masterfully builds up the characters and skilfully weaves the storyline in a manner that kept me reading - not wanting to put the book down. I especially enjoyed the suspense as it built up throughout the book. The narrative is structured around a plot that raises awareness towards radicalization and discrimination - in this case the marginalization of Muslims in North America. It is very evident that part of what makes Ms. Withers such an accomplished author are the efforts she puts into research and consultation in the preparation of writing her books. One of the many contacts she sought is a young Muslim woman, Arooj Hayat. Ms. Hayat immigrated to Canada as a young child and is working on her Pharmacy degree. Appropriately, Arooj is coauthor of the book.

I learned a lot about parkour and also Islam from this book. I appreciate a book that focuses around a specific religion and doesn't try to convert me to said religion. It's a rarity to say the least.

Adventure, sport, romance and cross-cultural understanding