Wracked with guilt for surviving the very accident that kills his mother, thirteen year-old Theodore Decker goes to stay with the family of a friend living on Park Avenue. There he is consumed by his intolerable longing for his mother and surrounded by concerned adults who don’t make the loss any easier to deal with.
——spoilers—-
This story of death, despair, and and hope persistently haunted me. Written from the point of view of a young boy and later a man – it allowed me to glimpse another world. A world of an unloved teen who morphs into a drug addict after falling into bad company.
The presence of unforgettable vibrant characters with unique personalities made this story very realistic. Characters like Boris who had constantly moved around and spoke accented English, lingered in my mind. Hobie especially continued to fascinate me because he’s very kind to Theo even though their only connection was a ring that brought Theo to the doorstep of Hobart & Blackwell. Since Theo’s father was a deadbeat who had abandoned him and his mother, I suppose he found a familial comfort in being with Hobie. A safety he craved after surviving an explosion that took his mother’s life.
The story never dragged or bored me. Even long descriptions of the setting seemed beautiful and otherworldly. The story itself must have been suffused with magic that prevented me from putting it down!
I recommend reading this book and I think you’ll be surprised how much you enjoy it.
Rating:
Inspired By Literature 