Being Henry David

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of mental health, trauma, and death by suicide. This section also contains references to violence, child abuse, and drug use, which appear in the source text.

Seventeen-year-old Danny Henderson wakes up in an unfamiliar place. He can’t remember anything. There are sounds and lights all around him. A strange man repeatedly asks him if he’s going to eat what he’s holding. Danny hears a voice on the loudspeaker and sees a sign hanging from the ceiling. He realizes the words on the sign are cities and that he’s in a station, but he doesn’t know who or where he is. He checks his pockets for ID, but only finds $10. He realizes he’s holding a book when the stranger grabs it from him. He chases the man, determined to get the book back because it might contain a clue as to who he is. Finally, he wrestles the book away from the man. Two cops appear and try to decide if the stranger, Frankie, or Danny are to blame for the scuffle. Danny tells the cops the book’s title—Henry David Thoreau’s