"We All Fall Down is a thoughtful and thought-provoking novel dealing with two harsh realities in contemporary society--parental divorce and teen alcoholism. All characters are well drawn and readers will empathise with Jane, Buddy, and their families. A sense of foreboding prevails throughout the book, building to a chilling and suspenseful scene.This very accurate portrayal of teen drinking, family break-up, and first love will leave an impact on the reader." Said Joyce Hamilton of the Voice of Youth Advocates December 1991. We All Fall Down is a novel of surprises in my opinion, Cormier presents issues that young people have to deal with and inter-twines them into the events of the story using characters that the audience can associate with and believe. He does so in a very subtle fashion and it helps provide a base for the story and build tension for certain incidents. .
The authenticity of the characters in We All Fall Down draws the readers in, as almost everyone can relate to some aspect of the events that take place, whether it be the first love emotions or a jealous rage. Buddy is a teenage boy with no direction and no motivation, he seeks a father figure to replace his own who is divorcing his mother, and Harry Flowers seems to be his answer. This is fairly relevant to all teenage boys around his age as they all form groups and make friends for life, buddy never gets this, he is picked up by someone who lives off other people's misery and loves the feeling of being in control of the other boys in the group this is shown on page 20 "Harry was Frankenstein, the doctor who created the monster." Without the name harry flowers he is the stereotypical player, he lacks emotion and empathy towards others and uses the people around him to get him through life this just showing the realism of the characters in the novel.
It is through his characters that Cormier provokes emotion, he uses the stereotypical people as puppets to mould the events of the novel around it and through his use of language manages to help the readers form their opinions and feelings towards certain characters.