Wonder

I read this a 2nd time for the podcat; it didn't hold up well.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-97-wonder/

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1st review 10/2012

First of all, I definitely think this would have higher appeal for kids and for teachers who want to use it in the classroom than it does for just plain adult readers. Some of the things that I think might appeal most to kids were the most boring to me. Like, Augie, the main character, is super fucking nitpicky about Star Wars character names & the like. Minutes of audio narration are dedicated to him correcting people about the difference between Boba Fett and Jango Fett. This feels accurate to the way kids talk, and would appeal to kids who are tired of grownups getting character names wrong. But as a (marginal) grownup I was like, move on already.

Anyway. It's the story of August Pullman, a kid born with severe facial deformities, who's been homeschooled through 4th grade but is about to start 5th grade at a private school. I was nervous that this would be too “afterschool-specialy” and it is, a little, but not as bad as I was dreading. Initially most of the other kids are grossed out by his face and don't give Augie a chance. Eventually, you guessed it, everyone learns that it's what's on the inside that matters.

I liked that it shifted between a lot of character's POVs–Augie, his sister, his friends, his sister's friends, etc. I would have been interested in at least one adult POV but I guess kids (the actual target audience) probably wouldn't have been. I also would have been interested to get inside the main bully, Julian's, head. It sounded kind of like his mom was horrible but we didn't get a whole lot about him.

Anyway, I especially liked having so many narrators for audiobook since there were 3 different readers who collectively did a great job bringing everyone to life. Augie's voice takes a bit to get used to–he's described as having kind of a raspy, weak voice, and that's how his parts are read.

Something this book handled well: the idea that you don't have to be an outright bully to hurt people's feelings. It's clear on the fact that kids can hurt each other's feelings with accidental reactions to things, and that's not something that gets discussed as often as actual bullying.

Something this book could have done better: many characters defend Augie by saying that even though his face is ugly, at least he's really smart. But... what if Augie had a cognitive disability? Then would it be OK to be mean to him?