The Troll Whisperer

** a solid 3 ½ **
This was a surprise. I thought it'd be a jokey, snarky book going by the tittle. It was deeper and more thoughtful than I'd imagined. It was a sweet tale of a young man who has been deeply hurt and let down by those he loved. His response is to turn into a self-hating cyber troll and to provoke others into a reaction, if it's negative, even better.

He is slowly coaxed out of his hard shell by the guileless sweetness of Noah, a neighbor whom he has trolled. I liked Noah mostly because he was a refugee from the JWs and I can relate to that, but otherwise he is a little bit of a Mary Sue. In any case that doesn't matter because the story is really all about Oscar finally starting to heal from long ago wounds.

I very much liked the journey, the pace of Oscar's turn around. I like his voice and sense of humor and the fact that even though his a changed man by the end he doesn't become a marshmallow, rainbow unicorn. He's still Oscar.

I would have given this a 4 but though Noah was sweet I didn't really care for him one way or another.

Recommended. Extra points because spanish words used by Oscar's father were done exactly right.