Rating: 4/5
Review:
Engaging, funny and involving
This is a thoroughly enjoyable novel for young adults. The basic story is a pretty well-worn one: set in Vancouver Stewart, a geeky, intellectually gifted and socially inept boy and Ashley, a vain, shallow, self-obsessed and bitchy girl are forced to live and to go to school together when their single parents move in together and they all form a "blended family." It is narrated by each of them in alternate chapters. Over time and through tribulation their initially completely hostile relationship begins to thaw and they each learn some valuable growing-up lessons.
Frankly, it sounds like just another sickly, moralistic and cliché-ed story, and if it were made into a Hollywood movie it probably would be. However, Susin Nielsen creates such brilliant characters through their voices and weaves such a humane, funny and sometimes exciting tale that it is completely engaging. I found both Stewart and Ashley wholly convincing; Stewart is extremely engaging from the start and Ashley's voice captures her character quite superbly - and we even begin to empathise with her as she and her naïvely self-centred world suffer some severe shocks.
There are faint echoes here of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime and of R.J. Palacio's Wonder, but Nielsen creates her own story and characters, and does it very well. I stayed up too late to finish this, which is always a good sign. Its message is not staggeringly original but I found it engaging, compassionate, heart-warming without being sentimental, exciting and funny. It also tackles some important issues like grief and loss, and also bullying and homophobia. This not-at-all-young adult thought it was a really good read and I can recommend it warmly.
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