But enough of where I got the book, lets talk about the book itself. This book was good, but not great. I like the cover a lot, but that really doesn't have too much to do with anything. But you must admit that the cover is pretty neat. The content between the cover pages is pretty good too. I especially liked the story-line as well, which was unique in the right sense.
Harrison is a fifteen year old boy with Asperger's. Anna is in her graduating year of high school, focusing on her studies in hopes of getting into a good university. Harrison is having trouble adjusting to high school life, has troubles socializing with others, and likes the routine of his life. Whenever things go slightly astray, he starts to get nervous, and when he gets nervous, he tends to recite the bones of the human body. Anna's mom is hoping to better Anna's resume to make her appeal more to an Ivy League university. Ad this is where the Best Buddies program comes into both of their lives, bringing Harrison and Anna together, something that might never have happened before. The Best Buddies program helps people with disabilities meet other people and do activities with them. Harrison takes part in this reluctantly, and Anna is willing to try it out. But what starts as a resume-builder for Anna turns into something more, and soon Harrison starts to form a tentative friendship with her. This story is told from both points of view, and explores a friendship that seems unexpected, and blossoms from a place that neither person initially thought would happen.
Honestly, I thought that this book was pretty good. I didn't fall in love with the book, but I liked it. I am not entirely sure how to describe it, but I really think that the enjoyment of the book would depend on the person who reads it. This book is simple, which I liked, and explores friendship from unexpected places, but also looks into how having Asperger's affects Harrison, how it changes his life, and how he deals with it. This combined premise is interesting to me, and is why I picked the book up initially.
I can not comment that much on how Harrison's character was portrayed, just because I feel like this is a touchy subject to some, and I also do not know entirely what to say. He did not annoy me, in the sense of how sometimes an author doesn't fairly show a character and doesn't properly develop them. As well, Harrison seemed fairly realistic as a person from my experiences. I used to know someone with Asperger's, and so this is an interesting look into someone's life who has it. I do know that the author says at the end of the book that she did do some research, and she contacted some people whose children had Aspergers, so that she could be sure she was remaining true to Harrison, and so that she could accurately portray Asperger's in his life.
But Anna is a slightly different story. Although I liked her about ninety percent of the time, occasionally she would make a choice or say something or do something that would just make me cringe - not because she was saying or doing anything that was malicious, but just because they either did not seem realistic, seemed blown out of proportion, or her actions did not seem like they entirely fit her personality or the situation. For example, she has a crush on a boy, and although I realize that people get crushes, occasionally it felt like too much, since she thought about him a lot, and because she would think things like "ooh, he's so dark and gloomy and mysterious, and I just want to make him smile just once", and I did not feel like it entirely fit the rest of the story. Later on, it added an extra element to the story, but earlier on in the book it felt a little bit out of place.
I don't really know if I would recommend this book to you. If the premise of the book interests you, then I say why not give it a shot. But if it does not have your interest right now, then I don't think that you will gain interest as it goes on. This book is a simpler read that is more low-key in nature, with a few moments of excitement. I enjoyed it for the most part, except for moments when Anna did not seem quite on base with a normal teenage girl with her eyes set on acceptance in university.
I hope you are all enjoying your week so far, and that the rest of it is good also. If you have been checking my section of the 'What We're Reading' page, no, I am not neglecting it - I am still reading the first book in the Lord of the Rings series, with short spurts of reading other books, like this one, that go by too quickly to be posted on there.
Enjoy your last week of March, and as April begins, I wish you a great book to read and plenty of friends and family to talk about it with.
We will see you soon with another review, and until then,
Stay Addicted!
-Jason