Austin is a High School Senior. He has a cool best friend, a beautiful girlfriend, and the title "Pride of the Panthers" for his skill on the football team. But Austin is surrounded by a sense of heaviness that he can't seem to shake. Feeling alone while others around him see him as a popular,good guy, he struggles to overcome the belief that ending it all would be the best solution. ( )

My first reading of this book unnerved me because it's written in the second person, and you don't see that very often. Austin, a high school football hero is suffering from depression and frequently contemplates suicide. He feels he has no one to turn to, but eventually talks to his best friend who helps him. This book is complex and tells a sad story about a young man who appears to have everything, but is having a hard time with his demons. As you will find out, so are the other kids in the book because, let's face it, we all have problems and issues that plague us.
Because this book is written in the second person, you will feel as if you are the protagonist; I found myself feeling tense and anxious the whole time I read it.
There are a few twists and turns in the book that keeps the storyline moving, and at the end of the book there are numerous agency names and phone numbers that people can actually call if one is feeling suicidal. ( )

I went into reading this very skeptical. A football book? Why would I ever want to read a football book? Amazon and several other sites recommended it though, so I did get it and read it. It started out a little flat. I was still reeling over the whole football thing. The first person narration was a little off-putting. Things weren't great. Typical jock, typical girl, typical story, blahblahblah. Or...you know, not. I started getting interested upon getting a better explanation about Curtis, a surprisingly sensitive football player. I still had my doubts, mentally ranting about how stupid it was that society forced football players to put on a perfect "image", still feeling that these boys were pathetically weak for not showing their emotions. (This, actually, was the one thought that stayed through the entire book. The rest were all disproven.) Going into the second half, things aren't as perfect as they seem. The facade is lifted and everyone's lives have been damaged. It was Austin's conversation with his mom that really won me over, leading in to one of the best endings I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The emphasis on football died down, and more and more of the book focused on the characters' lives and emotions, the interesting stuff. Simply amazing. As Austin's interest in life fades, the intensity of the book grows. Damage is really one of those books that everyone should take the time to read. Biggest shocker? A.M. Jenkins is a woman.

Rating: 5/5 ( )

my favorite part about this book is that it is about football and its about a star football player and his life and how hard it is to grow up without a dad in his childhood life ( )

Austin Read suffers from depression, but the reader doesn't know that until the end of the book. He's a high school football player who loses interest in everything. When he tries to tell his girlfriend she breaks up with him. HIs best friend, Curtis, listens at the end. Passed this book on to my local high school due to content. ( )