You Don’t Know Me by David Klass (review)

Paperback, 352 pages
Published August 1st 2002 by HarperTempest
Source: Library

Synopsis:
John (“My father named me after a toilet!”) wrestles with the certainty that no one really knows him not in his miserable home, and certainly not at school. It’s true that no one can guess his hidden thoughts, which are hilarious, razor-sharp observations about lust, love, tubas, algebra, everything. And then there’s his home: his father ran off years ago, so he’s being raised by his mother, who works long hours, and by her boyfriend, whom John calls “the man who is not and never will be my father.” This man is his enemy, an abusive disciplinarian who seems to want to kill John and, in a horrible final confrontation, nearly succeeds.

Review:

I’m taking a YA Lit class this summer and the professor included this book in his suggested reading for old school YA. I went into it not knowing anything about the author or even what genre the book is about. I wanted to be surprised. And I was.

I don’t really know how to accurately articulate how wonderful this book is. As I say about so many other novels, it is not perfect by any means but the writing is so incredible it makes up and then some for the little flaws.

Usually, when I am faced with books dealing with realistic situations such as abuse, broken families and neglectful parents, I don’t feel like reading because the pain does not seem worth the payoff at the end. However, You Don’t Know Me sucks you in from the very first page and it doesn’t stop holding onto you until you have reached the very end. Then it spits you out and you are left wondering which earthquake shook your world and why you’re the only one who felt it.

John has a crappy life. A really crappy life. The way he copes with it is by retreating into himself. His observations are so flippant and that flippancy expresses the utter tragedy of his pain so much more eloquently than melodrama and angst ever could have. His sense of self, his identity, his worth, these all have been fractured so much that it is not that we don’t know him but that he doesn’t know himself. He detaches himself from his life, makes himself into this observer who is watching himself getting beaten, his mom deliberately not paying attention to what’s happening when she’s not around. This book is brilliant. It will, if you give it a chance, make you cry and then make you laugh and then make you cry all over again.

If my effusive praise does not convince you, look at these excerpts from the novel and tell me it does not make the breath catch in your throat.

“The piece you have written for us is called “The Gambol of the Caribou.” Now, Mr. Steenwilly, I don’t mean to be critical. What I know about music could be squeezed into a peanut shell, and there would still be room for the peanut. But I looked up “gambol” in the dictionary, and it means to “skip or jump about playfully.” It also means to “caper or frolic.” Caribou are large, ponderous, woolly reindeer. They do not gambol. They do not caper. They do not frolic. And they certainly do not skip. It would be an interesting sight to see a herd of caribou skipping down the tundra, but, Mr. Steenwilly, it would never happen. You could write a piece called “The Caribou Standing Still and Freezing Their Butts Off.” Or “The March of the Caribou.” Or even “The Stampede of the Caribou.” But “The Gambol of the Caribou” is not such a great image to build a piece of music around.” ― David Klass, You Don’t Know Me

———————————

“Once upon a time there was a boy who had a life that was not a life. He lived in a house that was not a house with a father who was not his father. His friends were not true friends and basically he had nothing at all going for him. On the number line of boys he was a zero, neither positive nor negative, neither whole nor fractional.

Then one day a princess agreed to go to basketball game with him. Fool that he was, he had a fleeting moment of glee. He thought he could become a musician, a scholar, a romantic figure. But something cannot be made out of nothing…”

You Don’t Know Me, David Klass

 

That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard (review)

Hardcover, 272 pages
Published April 1st 2013 by Point
Source: Publisher

Synopsis:
Lexi Ryan just ran away to join the circus, but not on purpose.

A music-obsessed, slightly snarky New York City girl, Lexi is on her own. After making a huge mistake–and facing a terrible tragedy–Lexi has no choice but to track down her long-absent mother. Rumor has it that Lexi’s mom is somewhere in Florida with a traveling circus.

When Lexi arrives at her new, three-ring reality, her mom isn’t there . . . but her destiny might be. Surrounded by tigers, elephants, and trapeze artists, Lexi finds some surprising friends and an even more surprising chance at true love. She even lucks into a spot as the circus’s fortune teller, reading tarot cards and making predictions.

But then Lexi’s ex-best friend from home shows up, and suddenly it’s Lexi’s own future that’s thrown into question.

Review:

This book, oh this book. It starts off rather nicely. It certainly is very readable and the protagonist, Lexi, is initially rather relatable and more importantly, easy to empathize with. Her life falls apart completely and she has no choice but to hare across the country (ish?) to find her mother who, according to her sources, is working at a circus. Only the circus comes along without her mother in it.

The trouble I had with this book is the lack of realism in the characters and the events occurring and the decidedly Mary Sue-ishness of the protagonist. I am totally cynical so I did not believe that Louie, the owner of the circus, accepts Lexi into the circus out of the goodness of his heart. Just like that. I do not believe that he would concern himself with the details of what she’s doing as long as she was doing something. I do not believe that Lexi would remain unscathed living with men in a small trailer as she does and that she has no problem abandoning a fellow girl to her fate when Louie’s daughter suddenly asks her to move in. I don’t believe anyone would be so nice as to share to limited space with a sudden friend.

Also, Lexi had the potential to be a substantial character but because things happen for her so smoothly, she just never develops into anything. At all. And apparently she’s irresistible to boys because there’s the best friend she fooled around with in New York, the ride attendant dude at the circus and this seemingly divine creature called Nick who, for reasons I cannot even begin to comprehend, falls for Lexi but out of the goodness of his heart and very noble attentions, decides to back off and let Lexi go free…yeah, I don’t get it. It’s like something out of the 18^th century. And they barely knew each other, Nick and Lexi, and she’s hurting and so in love with Nick and I’m throwing up in my mouth, yeah.

I thought this would be a mother/daughter book. I was wrong. The mother does appear for all of 45 seconds because Nick being handsome, rich and noble, finds her for Lexi (out of the goodness of his heart, remember that, the man has a heart of premium gold) and somehow, Lexi’s dad turns into a bad guy DESPITE the fact that the mother CHEATED on him. And he’s the bad guy. Why yes, I barfed again a bit.

The problem with this book was that nothing seemed organic. Things didn’t happen as a matter of course, naturally due to the narrative, no. Things seemed unnatural and cobbled together because there needed to be a plot and the author needed to get from A to be B. I get it. Writing is difficult and sometimes seems downright impossible but there’s a certain art to the craft that I found this novel to be lacking.

It’s not the worst book I have read but it is one of the most ridiculous. I can’t recommend it to you guys but hey, you may like it anyway.

No and Me – Delphine de Vigan (review)

Hardcover, 256 pages
Published August 3rd 2010 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Source: The Library

Synopsis:
Parisian teenager Lou has an IQ of 160, OCD tendencies, and a mother who has suffered from depression for years. But Lou is about to change her life—and that of her parents—all because of a school project about homeless teens. While doing research, Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their friendship grows, Lou bravely asks her parents if No can live with them, and is astonished when they agree. No’s presence forces Lou’s family to come to terms with a secret tragedy. But can this shaky, newfound family continue to live together when No’s own past comes back to haunt her?

Review:

First, thank you Keertana for recommending this book to me. Your review pushed me to pick it up and I can’t tell you how glad I am that I did so.

I have this fascination with books written in different languages. Mostly because I can’t read them and I am immediately convinced they are troughs full of treasure that are locked to me because of my inability to read them. This is the feeling that drove me to learn English when I was a kid and the same feeling that drove me to learn Korean. I’m still working on the Korean but French and I had a short relationship that spanned just the four months that made up one term. I may go back and try to learn it again but until then, I will remain ever thankful to translated books. There are not many out there but I will try to read the ones that are.

I’m not so familiar with French lifestyle and culture to be able to comfortably comment on how French the novel is. And I don’t know if the translation changed the narrative in ways to make it accessible to North American readers (or should I say English readers). The book is told from the perspective of a very bright, very smart fourteen year old who is not just smart on paper but smart in the way she thinks and observes the world around her. No and Me is a painful novel. The pain, however, is juxtaposed by hope. There are different kinds of losses and Lou learns several heart wrenching lessons about life and people.

This novel is inordinately beautiful. The prose, the relationships between the characters and the subtle romance. There is no brashness that is so common in North American YA protagonists. Lou is more restrained, in fact, the entire novel is somewhat restrained. The passion is there but the flavor is different. No broke my heart and I will long wonder what happens to her. And that I think is the ultimate success of this novel. The author creates characters who linger in your memory long after the pages of the book have been turned.

The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr (review)

Hardcover, 320 pages
Expected publication: May 7th 2013 by Little, Brown BFYR
Source: Publisher

Synopsis:
Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. The right people knew her name, her performances were booked months in advance, and her future seemed certain.

That was all before she turned fourteen.

Now, at sixteen, it’s over. A death, and a betrayal, led her to walk away. That leaves her talented ten-year-old brother, Gus, to shoulder the full weight of the Beck-Moreau family expectations. Then Gus gets a new piano teacher who is young, kind, and interested in helping Lucy rekindle her love of piano — on her own terms. But when you’re used to performing for sold-out audiences and world-famous critics, can you ever learn to play just for yourself?

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr takes readers inside the exclusive world of privileged San Francisco families, top junior music competitions, and intense mentorships. The Lucy Variations is a story of one girl’s struggle to reclaim her love of music and herself. It’s about finding joy again, even when things don’t go according to plan. Because life isn’t a performance, and everyone deserves the chance to make a few mistakes along the way.

Review:

I was cautiously optimistic about this novel; my very first Sara Zarr book. My friends had read her previous book and loved it immensely so I decided to request this one because I cannot resist books about music prodigies. Especially ones who are mistaken and full of angst and feelings. It’s a thing.

And for the most part, The Lucy Variations delivers. The writing is crisp and infused with sharp wit. The friendships portrayed are varied and interesting and the family dynamics are complicated enough to provide a rich source of tension and drama which makes for good reading. My problem was Lucy herself. For the most part, she’s a sympathetic protagonist and it is easy enough to empathize with her, especially since her mother and grandfather are difficult characters. So the first half of the novel was fine where Lucy is concerned. It is in the second half that things began to gradually fall apart.

The way Lucy treats her best friend is atrocious. I understand that she’s an adolescent going through puberty but I think she went beyond what I would accept in a protagonist. Especially during the party at Will’s house. The romance in this is another thing that makes me queasy. There are no obvious love interests in this novel, not in the traditional sense of the word and that would have been fine had the dude who was offered not a married man.

If Zarr was going to make that the topic or theme of the novel, the adultery-like relationship between Lucy and Will, it should have been properly discussed with all its conflicts and confrontations and emotions. Instead, all we get is a hint of it, some too close and inappropriate hugs and no resolution to it. The ending was anticlimactic and even though I enjoyed the relationship Lucy had with her brother, her actions are beyond creepy (she steals Will’s nail clippers) and very gross. The bits that Lucy spends playing the piano or thinking about music were nice and I wish this story had taken another twist and left the whole romance bit on the side. I would have liked the friendship between Will and Lucy to be just that – a friendship. However, Lucy ends up sounding entitled, spoiled and entirely without a conscience when she displays no consideration at all for Will’s wife (who is implied to be some sort of drunk, to soften Lucy’s feelings for the man, I suppose?). Apart from the problematic romance and Lucy’s less than appetizing character, the novel is easy to read and the pacing fluid enough. If you are not bothered by the same things I am, I dare say you will enjoy the novel a lot more than I did.

Summer Reads

I’ve been looking at catalogues from several publishers and I noticed a trend. Summer seems to be all about realistic fiction, or as they’re better known in blogosphere, contemporaries. I don’t know why they reason so. Is it because they’re afraid that the sun will melt away the shadows necessary for fantasy/paranormal books? Or that people are less likely to suspend their disbelief when it’s sunny and nice compared to when it’s snowy and not so nice? Suspension of disbelief is is often a prerequisite for enjoying any kind of paranormal and fantasy. Whatever reason they do have, they’re pushing contemps on us this coming season and so, getting in on the trend, I have some recommendations that I think would make for good summer reading.

All links lead to Goodreads. Have any summer recommendations for me?

Geek Girl by Holly Smale (review)

Paperback, 378 pages
Published February 28th 2013 by HarperCollins Children’s Books
Source: Library
Challenge: Debut Author 2013

Synopsis:
Harriet Manners knows a lot of things.

She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a “jiffy” lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn’t quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she’s spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend’s dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn’t seem to like her any more than the real world did.

And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?

Review:

This is a review. Just in case you were wondering.

Not snark I try to pass off as a review but a review. A Review. Review. Review.

Okay, now that the veracity of the first sentence has been established by the author, admittedly without any outside input but still, we will move on to the purpose for which we have gathered here.

I really really really liked Geek Girl. It came to me during a time when I needed something funny. Something uplifting. Something that didn’t take itself seriously and didn’t expect me to do so. It was what I had expected Going Vintage to be and hey, I’m not complaining.

The premise isn’t new. This story has been written countless times before and will continue to be written countless time in the future. The fact is, people are suckers for the Cinderella tale. It makes us believe (wrongly perhaps) that there is a chance for all of us to move forward and away from our sad and poor (I want money, damnit!) lives. But as this is a modern book with modern sensibilities, this novel is also about finding yourself. Not like you have lost yourself on the way to school but like accepting your lot in life after you have become Cinderella and realized that the clock will always chime midnight once a day and you have to accept the pumpkin as well as the prince.

This novel has kind of a fail romance but we’ll get to that later. First, let’s talk about the awesomesauce that is Harriet Manners. She has a father who acts more like an adolescent than her and a stepmother who is not evil and actually kind of a saint for putting up with her father and a best friend who has her issues but is pretty darned awesome. Oh, she also has a stalker which is a tad bit problematic but for the most part, it is funny. But more on him later when we discuss the fail romance. Yea anticipation, let it build.

Harriet is a geek, ladies and gentlemen. Which means that she is supersmart and interested in obscure stuff and tends to go on for yonks about the lint found in sloth navels. I’m just kidding. She doesn’t do that. She is funny and socially awkward and while I personally don’t believe in labeling people and therefore have not known any one to be explicitly a geek, if you were to take a text book geek and construct her up (if it’s a female of the species) you will most probably end up with Harriet. She has this habit of hiding under the nearest piece of furniture in times of stress and where Harriet’s concerned, these times are many.

To enjoy this novel, you have to suspend your disbelief so far that it’s orbiting star number 3454 in the Milky Way. I’m just saying. But seriously, there are problems with the logistics of this novel. Harriet goes to a photo shoot without any preparation whatsoever and okay, that’s believable but to expect her to walk the runway without any practice at all? Yeah, a tad bit difficult to believe that. There are more such instances of “umm…kaaay?” in the novel but eh, my disbelief was cozying up to star# 3454 and so I was able to ignore my brain’s demand for logic.

I liked that the best friend is actually a person and not a plot point used to move the narrative forward. She matters to Harriet and though the confrontation scene with the bully lacks any confrontation, I like that she and Harriet have the relationship they do.

Okay, now for the fail romance and some extra bit about the geek dude who stalks Harriet. First, this love interest is not developed at all. He is the silhouette of a character. You see a bit of him, he intrigues you (especially since he is a POC) but that’s about it. He’s not present in the narrative for a good length of time so I really don’t understand how (and why) Harriet (of the supposed large intellect) fell for him. Is it his good looks? I thought Harriet being smart would mean that she took some time to get to know a person and that she would understand the difference between infatuation and true loves. Spoiler time! Avert eyes if you don’t want to be spoiled! Then you find out that he is the reason behind Harriet getting chosen as the model. He is the one who pulled the strings and for some reason, that feels grossly wrong to me and not the romantic, oh I got the tinglies deal I’m supposed to be feeling. A man being responsible for the change that occurred in Harriet, the reason she “finds” herself and he, indirectly, giving her the push she needed to move out of the rut she has been in. Way to reinforce patriarchy. Yep.

Also, I get that the stalker dude is funny and I admit I chuckled out loud at his stalkerish ways but I still think that it ought to have been acknowledged at one point or another how wrong the entire thing is. Stalking is not fun or funny and no one should do it with the goal to impress a girl or make her fall in love with you. The only time stalking is okay is if you are a cop and you are hunting down dangerous criminals. And I’m still wondering what the purpose of this character was. He’s the geekier male version of Harriet who is completely in love with him…and she doesn’t even consider him as a potential love interest. Like ever. Hmm. He manifested the parts of her that she didn’t like and accepting him meant accepting herself but if that was the case, the love story would have a different ending (a less fairytale like one) so in the end…he is just there for the comic relief?

All this said and done, I had fun reading this novel. It was amusing and fluffy and even though the romance was just this side of suckage, the parents were great and kooky and the designer was also fun. You may enjoy this if you are looking for brain candy.

Anastasia Krupnik (Anastasia Krupnik #1) by Lois Lowry (review)

Paperback, 113 pages
Published November 1st 1984 by Yearling

Synopsis:
Anastasia’s tenth year has some good things, like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother, and some bad things, like finding out about an impending baby brother.

Review:

Though Lowry is, I believe, mostly famous for her dystopian series, The Giver, I think readers should also give the middle grade Anastasia Krupnik a read to see the breadth of Lowry’s writing skills. Her ability to weave into existence Anastasia, an irreverent, irrepressible and entirely charming ten year old is impressive. Anastasia is unintentionally witty and, to older readers, extremely funny as she charges full steam through life falling in love, falling out of love and making decisions (bad and good). Her proclamations and reactions to her parents have a ring of realism to them and she’s just incredibly funny.  Her observations will have more meaning to older readers who are experienced enough to understand her thoughts and the sly allusions.

Anastasia Krupnik is one of those books that will be enjoyed by both older readers and the younger ones. The younger ones will empathize and take everything at face value while the older ones will be able to recognize, as I said previously, the duality in Anastasia’s actions. For example, Anastasia decides to leave her house when she finds out she is getting a baby brother, she packs her clothes etc and younger kids will be on board the moving out train but older readers will smirk and wait for the realization that she has no other place to go to sink in.

Anyway, the book is short and funny. I recommend it. Read it to yourself or to a sibling!

The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder (review)

Hardcover, 307 pages
Published June 28th 2011 by Simon Pulse
Source: Library

Synopsis:
One moment can change everything.Amber’s life is spinning out of control. All she wants is to turn up the volume on her iPod until all of the demands of family and friends fade away. So she sneaks off to the beach to spend a day by herself.

Then Amber meets Cade. Their attraction is instant, and Amber can tell he’s also looking for an escape. Together they decide to share a perfect day: no pasts, no fears, no regrets.

The more time that Amber spends with Cade, the more she’s drawn to him. And the more she’s troubled by his darkness. Because Cade’s not just living in the now—he’s living each moment like it’s his last.

Review:

Lisa Schroeder’s most recent verse novel is, in my opinion, her strongest. The length of the novel spans one entire day and during this one day, Schroeder’s protagonist makes important decisions, meets a life changing person and comes to poignant realizations. While this would take an incredible amount of skill to render in prose form, I found that Schroeder’s verse novel makes this one incredibly long and filled day not just believable but also relatable. When Amber meets Cade there is an instant awareness but rather than it being love, she intuits that this person is perhaps feeling similar to her emotionally. They start off as strangers and while in the end, it is close to love, it is not love – not the whole insta-I want to be with you forever – kinda love so popular in certain YA novels.

But what I really wanted to talk about is Schroeder’s poetry. I felt she improved in spades from her ghost novels which, let’s be honest here, were sentimental but not really poetic milestones. The verses in The Day Before are spare, sparse and hard hitting. Not a single word is superfluous and I loved this succinct style because it was the perfect medium through which Amber and Cade’s individual melancholies could be expressed. The attention to detail, the crispness of the imagery, the tension running parallel to the words, the simplicity of the verses – these all worked to create the beauty that is The Day Before.

I liked how both Amber and Cade’s conflicts are internal and their struggle with their conflicts also signify their growth as people. Amber’s fear about losing her family and Cade’s fear that doing the right thing may lead to terrible results are so easy to relate to. Many of us have been in the same position at one time or another in our lives. I recommend this book, you guys. It’s beautiful.

This Is What Happy Looks Like – Jennifer E. Smith (review)

Hardcover, 416 pages
Expected publication: April 2nd 2013 by Poppy
Source: ARC from Publisher

Synopsis:
If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O’Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.

Then Graham finds out that Ellie’s Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media’s spotlight at all costs?

Review:

Here you go:

I haven’t read The Statistical Possibility of Love at First Sight so I was not really aware of Smith’s writing style when I first started this novel. I do think the premise, while it has been done countless times in countless variations, will remain attractive to anyone looking for a fairytale romance.

Except, you know, this novel doesn’t exactly deliver on the fairytale portion. It’s not exactly grim and realistic but Smith is careful to ensure that the not-so-fun parts of the fairytale romance get fair exposure. For example, the paparazzi hounding you, the uncertainty of your schedule and the possibility that you won’t be able to see your girlfriend or boyfriend for months on end. Stuff like that is addressed quite fairly. However, the novel is, predominantly, fluff. The feel good fluff that you will consume preferably by a pool or at the beach. It is happy-making though there are rough spots scattered here and there to spice up the narrative.

As is usual with YA novels, there are parental issues and this is quite legitimate but I found that Ellie’s scenes with her dad were not as powerful as Smith probably intended them to be and I was rather bummed by how anticlimactic it all turned out to be. I wanted there to be a grand confrontation and yes, I realize there is something understated about it and in hindsight, I will probably appreciate the delicacy with which it was handled but the drama queen in me really wanted there to be some screaming. Also, what the heck is happening with the friendship between Ellie and her best friend? There were major pacing issues there and for their fallout to feel more authentic, there needed to be more time given to have the reader figure out the relationship between the two but alas, Ellie’s best friend has the ancillary position which somehow dissolves into nothing until it’s all magically fixed. I don’t know, you guys. If friendship is going to matter in a novel, I’d like to see something sincere, honest and a little painful. I don’t want the best friend to just be there as a prop, as someone to divert or perhaps focus attention from and to the protagonist.

Another issue I had here was with the romance. Obviously this book makes no secret that it’s primary focus is the romance between Graham and Ellie. And I found it rather refreshing that Ellie is not insecure about Graham’s feelings for her but I think I would have liked to see a bit more interiority there. Graham, on the other hand, is almost spilling over with his love for Ellie but then the ending occurs and the incongruity between him wanting to be with Ellie, being heartbroken by her etc, when juxtaposed with the ending (which is not sad but leaves room for thought) just confused me. They are very cute when they are together but I found it so interesting that, despite their obvious interest in each other, they are still still, somehow, inexplicably, level headed.

Also, I loved how poignantly Graham’s life is shown to be though. Smith shows that fame and a celebrity’s life is not necessary equal to happiness. The image of Graham sitting at home alone with a pet pig is very convincing.

Do I recommend this book? Yeah. It’s entertainment. It has its faults but it is fun and if you suspend your disbelief and don’t question things too much, you should enjoy it.

One Plus One Equals Blue by M.J. Auch

Hardcover, 272 pages
Expected publication: April 30th 2013 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Source: Publisher

Synopsis:
Twelve year-old Basil knows he’s special—he’s been associating numbers with colors since he was a kid. His gift (or curse) has turned him into somewhat of a loner, but his world begins to change when he meets Tenzie, the new girl in school who has similar freakisms. She, too, has synesthesia (a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another). At first, Basil is somewhat annoyed with Tenzie’s pushiness, but after Basil’s estranged mother returns, his life is turned upside down . . . and Tenzie may be the only person to help him put it back together again.

Review:

Meet Basil. He has got synesthesia which is an interesting disorder that causes you to experience two sensations at the same time (ish). He’s 12 years old and also, rather firmly, attached to his position as the class loser. Then there’s Tenzie. She’s also 12 and she also has synesthesia.

Both of them have parental issues. Basil’s mom abandoned him when he was a baby and he has no idea who his dad is. But he lives with his grandmother who is pretty darned cool in a superawesome house. Tenzie’s situation is a bit sadder because even though both her parents are very much present and accounted for, she may be a piece of furniture for all the attention they give her.

The novel is rather simple and lacks the complexity that makes for excellent crossover appeal. However, I think that younger readers will appreciate it and empathize with Basil’s bottom feeder status. He is a bit too surly at times for my taste but I think he is remarkably levelheaded for someone so young. Tenzie, on the other hand, starts out as smart and put together but her issues unravel her rather rapidly.

One thing I do have to mention though is that though the novel seems to set itself up as an exploration of synesthesia, it does not, in fact, go into very great detail about the disorder except at a very superficial level. Most of the narrative is engaged with Basil’s here and gone again mother who really does not add anything to the narrative. If you are really curious about synesthesia and would like to read about it in a fictional setting, I recommend Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson (YA) and A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass.

One plus One equals Blue is more about relationships. Between parents and children, between grandparents and grandkids. The book is about choosing your own family and being okay with being different. This will be a good book to give to kids who are having trouble at school or are being bullied.