Book Reviews

Book Reviews

by Matthew Dumas

Please enjoy these book reviews by Matthew and if you have read a good book recently why not consider writing a review for our next issue of Splash.

Wonder

by R.J. Palacio

Wonder was a book written in 2012 by R.J. Palacio about the hardships of a young boy with extensive facial birth defects going to school. Upon initial release, Wonder received positive reviews, but little more, however it has gained widespread popularity as time drew on. It has earned multiple awards and was a New York Times Bestseller.

One of the books best elements is its characters. They are believable and genuine, giving the illusion that you've known them a long time. However, multiple characters are rather unlikable, even if that wasn't the intention. This doesn't detract from the book however, as even if you don't like them you can really believe their motivations. For example, I'm not particularly fond of the parents of August, our main protagonist. I often don't agree with their methods, but regardless it is incredibly obvious how much they love their children. I like that the author has accomplished this task.

Our characters include August, our sweet little deformed boy; Via, his sister who I admire a lot; their parents, Nate and Isabel, who I'm not overly fond of as I mentioned earlier; Miranda, who is Via's friend; Justin, Via's boyfriend; Jack, who is August's best friend; Summer, who is also August's best friend; and many more, including the cutest dog in a book since Marley and Me! This book has a lot of characters - which is good.

The book shows us the events through many character's eyes, and it really works here, because their stories are all tied in and are sectioned off to different portions of the book, so it's not constantly back and forth. This is executed very well, and I honestly thought that the book got vastly better when it moved from August’s point of view to others', except for one. I shudder at the thought but I'll get to that later.

One thing this book doesn't do very well is that little rule of writing that we all know: ‘show don't tell’. This book will tell you something and then fail to represent that, or worse, directly contradict it. For example, August is said to be very smart, but this is never shown, in fact, on the exact same page as his intelligence is first mentioned, he asks what “a lamb to the slaughter is”, which is something that a fool of his age could figure out. It does that quite a lot and it's one of my biggest gripes with this book.

Another gripe regards the points of view. I love them all, except one. Justin's. I don't mind Justin as a character, but his point of view uses no proper grammar. May I repeat that? His point of view uses no proper grammar. Why did they have to do that?! It ruined his whole portion and made me want to put the book down and never pick it up again, but alas I forbade myself, which I almost regret, as it was just unbearable. The chapter just made Justin seem like an edgy, postmodern hipster, who has no time for peasants. (Or grammar apparently.) Luckily it was over soon, but it added little to the story and really, though I hate to say it, I would ultimately recommend skipping his part.

The book portrays the majority of children as spawns of Satan sometimes too, which is unrealistic. They eventually accept August in the end, which I'm sure we all expected, but in the beginning the children are horrible to him, which isn't something very common in this day and age, making the story a bit too much of a sob story at times, which is why I preferred it from other points of view.

The book also loves pop culture references, constantly referencing Star Wars in particular, which I guess is kind of okay, as it fits in with the middle school environment and makes the kids more real, but I didn't really like it. I prefer a book that is timeless, as in a few decades most of those jokes and themes will have been forgotten.

Overall, Wonder is a pretty enjoyable book. It has it's high highs, and it's terrible lows, but it's certainly worth a read. Get yourself a copy, you might just like it.

All the Light We Cannot See

by Anthony Doer

Please click on the link below for Matthew's review of this title.

Les Miserables

by Victor Hugo

Please click on the link below for Matthew's review of this title.