Book Review: Wonder

“If every person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary - the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.”   

(This person is quoting J.M. Barrie “Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always try to be a little kinder than is necessary?”)


I am enduring sporadic bouts of repeated computer failure.  Eventually, it should work the right way again, but I don't know that for sure.  We'll see what happens.    But I got to read a book.  This marks the first book that we on this blog that was specifically recommended for review.  Recommended by my Aunt Evelyn, we have here a book review on Wonder.



Wonder is a book about August Pullman, who has a craniofacial abnormality.  As such, he is--to put it simply--frighteningly ugly.  This book is about his first year of middle school, and coincidentally his first year outside of homeschool.  It also explores the feelings of his sister, his sister's friend, his sister's boyfriend, and two of his friends.  And in the spirit of both ugliness and Clint Eastwood, I present....

The Good:  It was thoughtful, fast-paced and funny.  I liked the ideas of kindness that are infused into the story as its main theme.  I also liked that people were people.  His sister, Via, is a complicated character who both loves her brother, but as ashamed of it as she is, is also embarrassed by him.  His friend, Jack, is kind and loyal, but even he has his moments of "I don't know why I did that...it just happened." 

The Bad:  A little cliché.  Life's awful, and then it's not, and then everyone loves Auggie, just like he were Raymond.  Even though I mentioned the humanity of the characters is in the good, some of the characters fall in the bad. Many of the main characters had humanity infused in them but a lot of the other characters (and even one main character, Summer), are pop-up bullies, suck-ups or the perfect accepting girl. 

The Ugly:  I'm sorry.  I know that you're trying to make Jack's chapters like he wrote them.  And we get that he's not the best student.  But do we have to suffer through the bad spelling and no punctuation?

I would recommend the book, even though I would have liked it if it had a slightly different ending (and I know exactly how I would have liked it to end, too). 4 out of 5 stars.

Comments

Evelyn said…
How would you have the book end? (I just finished read it today...yeah, the original recommendation was because I trust the friend who recommended it to me.)
November 28, 2013 at 3:54 AM
Hannah said…
I think the true hero of the book is Jack...probably just me though. I find him much more real and much more relatable.
December 14, 2013 at 8:19 PM
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