Friday, June 27, 2014

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: June 2014

Welcome one and all to the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a cozy gathering of book lovers, meeting to discuss their thoughts regarding the tomes they enjoyed most over the previous month.  Pull up a chair, order your cappuccino and join in the fun.  If you wish to add your own review to the conversation, please sign on to the link list at the end of my post.

Title: Wonder
Author: R.J. Palacio
via NPR
My Wife has devised a summer reading project for our family: a book swap.  Each of us gives the other two a book to read.  My daughter's choice for me was Wonder, a book that has been camped out at or near the top of the New York Times bestseller list for the past year and has also been the darling of the state-based book awards.  Kim Karras chose the book for her Coffeehouse post just last month.  Her post is here.

I have to admit that despite all of the laurels thrown at this book - or perhaps because of them - I approached Wonder with skepticism.  Is it a genuinely strong work or is it simply popular due to sympathy for the main character, a boy named Auggie born with a severe facial deformity?  Is it a flash in the pan until the next great tear-jerker comes along?  But I have also been curious.  And I'll admit to bias.  The fact that my daughter liked it speaks volumes.

Wonder inhabits a world I know very well: middle school.  Crazy man that I am, I teach middle school.  For me, the choice of setting alone was a stroke of genius for this story.  Sure, it's familiar for the target audience but it's also the ultimate test for an insecure child bearing obvious physical anomalies.  Schadenfreude - it bleeds from the walls in an American middle school.  At no time in our lives are the people around us so relentlessly unforgiving.  Auggie is not only new to the school but new to the very concept of school, having only been taught at home before.  Intellectually, he's more than ready.  Socially, he has a very high mountain to climb.

We see Auggie's story from multiple perspectives.  Three of the eight chapters are told from his own point-of-view.  The others are by Via (his sister), Summer (his lunch table companion), Jack (his friend), Justin (his sister's boyfriend) and, my personal favorite, Miranda (his sister's friend).  I expected a tale of cruelty and insecurity and, to be sure, there is plenty of both.  But as the book's structure reveals, there is a lot more to every story than is immediately apparent to the narrator.

I know plenty of kids like each of the principals.  I even know some with tougher rows to hoe than Auggie's.  I see them every day.  But that's not the point of the book.  We all know these kids, because they are us.  We are all a little bit Auggie, a little bit Jack, a little bit Miranda (I've known a lot of Mirandas!), maybe even a little bit more Julian (the bully) than we might care to admit.  I had a pretty rough time at Auggie's age (5th grade - 10-11 years old) but I know well enough that he and kids like him suffer experiences I can't possibly fathom.  Jack may be the closest to me - the well-intended kid who still occasionally says dumb things that hurt people unwittingly.  Though truthfully, I was probably the two Maxes - the D&D boys.

Ultimately, Wonder is about kindness.  Through selfless acts, we not only help others but save ourselves.  I love Miranda's story in particular because she does not completely understand her own extraordinary act of kindness even as she's in the midst of it.  Yet through the act, she redeems herself and fixes a small part of her own fractured world.

Perhaps predictably, the ending is very happy.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I teared up quite a lot by the end.  I still wonder if 20 years from now, people will still appreciate this story or if it will be remembered only as "that cute little book about the kid with the face."  For the record, I'm hoping for the former.

Part of the deal for the book swap was that everyone had to blog about the books.  That part was my idea.  Here is My Wife's post about the book I gave her.

Please join us and share your own review of your best read from the past month.  This month's link list is below.  I'll keep it open until the end of the day.  I'll post July's tomorrow.  Meetings are the last Friday of each month.  Next gathering is July 25th.


26 comments:

  1. I'd heard about this book - now you've made me want to read it. Nice review :)

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  2. Okay. I'm getting it. Everyone I know who has read it has recommended it. Maybe this will be the book that I can share with my high schooler and my junior high-er.

    Thanks for such a great review!
    Veronica

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    1. Wonder's definitely a winner. I'll be interested to know what you and your family think of it.

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  3. I haven't read it yet, though it's on my TBR list. My son read it when he was in 6th grade and really loved it. He talked about it quite a bit with me as he went along, so I felt I got to know Auggie through him a bit. It sounds like the author handled the subject really well.

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    1. I'll be interested to know what you think. I expect this one will stay with me for a while.

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  4. I've seen this book before and always thought it was "Wonder Eye (I)". It's a good lesson that when we help others we save ourselves AC. Good review and I hope you have an awesome weekend.

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  5. It's always interesting to wonder if a bestseller today will still be remembered tomorrow. Historically the chances are pretty slim. Most of the time it's a matter of whether schools embrace it.

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    1. It is also difficult to judge what will truly last the test of time or even why. I think the multiple perspectives the book offers is its main selling point, long term. There are lots of stories about people in extraordinary circumstances, be they positive or negative. The narrative approach here offers a bit more novelty.

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  6. I just returned from your bride's blog. Verrrrry cool that your family is doing the book swap thing. I think sharing favorite books is a terrific way to connect with each other.

    Terrific book review! It sounds like something I should read, and then give to one of my grandchildren. Thanks!

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    1. Definitely a good way to connect. Also, I willing my admit that my wife has a nose for the good stuff: books, food, movies, whatever. Our tastes don't always line up exactly but I can't deny she knows quality when she sees it. It's a big part of what drew me to her in the first place!

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  7. I love a man who can toss around the Schadenfreude. I shall check out your wife's blog now.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. If I were to describe the middle school mind in one word...

      I've thought more about your guest post offer and I have some ideas rolling around, using this book as a launch point.

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  8. I once had a burly elementary school special ed teacher tell me he would never ever teach middle school because "the chemicals in their bodies made them crazy". I'm assuming he meant puberty. Much respect to you for doing the job.

    A family book swap is a good idea. It's a great way to introduce yourself to new types of books.

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  9. I liked the way the word Schadenfreude looks but have never used it. Rather a sad word.
    I have used the word verklempt which I like.
    What can I say I am a visual person.
    A wonderful plan Mrs. Squid came up with.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. It is a sad word. The Germans are good at cramming a lot of meaning into a single word.

      Mrs. Squid is very clever.

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  10. 'I'm not ashamed to admit that I teared up quite a lot by the end.'

    WOW.

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  11. I've seen this book around a lot, but not being much of a reader of middle grade, I've never read it. I like a good story where you can connect to the characters in a way that makes you think of yourself as a child. I'm glad that you were able to see yourself in these characters, because that was probably the main intent. Nice review!

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  12. My son read this book for his DCF group at the library, and says he really liked it. It did also make him cry. A colleague at school strongly suggested I read it, so based on your review, your daughter's and my son's... I guess I had better pick it up!

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    1. Yes, you should! I'll look forward to hearing what you think of it.

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  13. This is not one that I've read, but what a great post - now I've got to read it. Appreciate the heads up! Multiple points of view really add to the depth of a story, in my humble opinion, so that little piece of information sealed the deal.

    Thanks, Squidly!
    Cherdo
    www.cherdoontheflipside.com

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    1. Thanks, Cherdo! I hope you'll check it out and let me know what you think.

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