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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
This was a sweet book that started out sad, and worked its way up. Ona Viktus is one hundred and four years old, and is befriended by an 11 year old boy scout with a thirst for world records. When the boy dies unexpectedly, Ona and the boy's parents come together to ease their pain.
I wish I understood the hype of this book. The prose was pretty, but I kept having to re-read things over and over again to catch small (but important) aspects of the story.
The One-in-a-Million Boy shines a beautiful light on ordinary lives and the stories behind them. It’s a wonderful novel about cross-generational friendships, how rewarding they can be if we just get past society’s and our own stereotyping and prejudices. They can help us, even heal us, in a way friendships with our peer group might not. And it shows what real friendship and kindness is. It’s not doing something out of a sense of duty or obligation: a good deed. It’s doing something that might make you feel good but more importantly makes the other person feel better/seen/noticed/valued/loved because you want to do it for them. To make them feel like they’re One in a Million.
‘Your boy gave me a present,’ Ona said.
Belle leaned in. ‘What?’
‘My mother tongue,’ Ona said. ‘From the moment I laid eyes on him, it’s been coming back. Dribs and drabs. I can’t explain it, unless he had magic up his sleeve.’
‘He was made of magic,’ Belle gave Ona’s hand a squeeze.
I think Monica Wood might also be made of magic. I was completely disarmed by her book's humour and its gentle storytelling. I wished her characters could move into my neighbourhood because they felt like friends. And I forgive her for making me cry. If you read and loved Elizabeth is Missing, The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and A Year of Marvellous Ways, then I think you'll fall for The One-in-a-Million Boy. I know I did.
‘Your boy gave me a present,’ Ona said.
Belle leaned in. ‘What?’
‘My mother tongue,’ Ona said. ‘From the moment I laid eyes on him, it’s been coming back. Dribs and drabs. I can’t explain it, unless he had magic up his sleeve.’
‘He was made of magic,’ Belle gave Ona’s hand a squeeze.
I think Monica Wood might also be made of magic. I was completely disarmed by her book's humour and its gentle storytelling. I wished her characters could move into my neighbourhood because they felt like friends. And I forgive her for making me cry. If you read and loved Elizabeth is Missing, The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and A Year of Marvellous Ways, then I think you'll fall for The One-in-a-Million Boy. I know I did.
Unfortunately and despite the rave reviews that this book gets, it just didn't work for me. I must say that reading the first part of the story, (the interaction between the boy and Ona), I absolutely loved it and thought it was going to be a 5 star read, but then the story fell flat after that. I found it very boring and slow...and although I finished the book, I couldn't wait for it to end so that I could move on to something else. That's when I know that a 2 star rating is the best I can do.
4.5 enthusiastic stars
I'm stunned this book isn't receiving more buzz, as it is one of the better books I've read this year.
"The One in a Million Boy" is about a socially-awkward 11 year old boy who is obsessed with The Guinness Book of World Records (known to readers only as "the boy") and a 104 year old woman named Ona Vitkus whom the boy interviews for a school project. Of course, to say that the book is only about Ona, the boy, and the school project, would be like saying that [b:The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|13227454|The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|Rachel Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335816092s/13227454.jpg|18156927] is about a man who went out for a walk. "The One in a Million Boy" is filled with love and humanity without at all being saccharine.
I'm not saying anymore, because for me part of the joy was discovering the beauty of this book without any preconceived notions. In fact, DO NOT read the Amazon description, and be very wary of reading other reviews, unless they are from trusted reviewers who do not give spoilers (you may even want to skip the GoodReads blurb).
If you liked [b:The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|13227454|The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|Rachel Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335816092s/13227454.jpg|18156927], [b:The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy|20890479|The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy|Rachel Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403202599s/20890479.jpg|39861474], or even [b:Me Before You|15507958|Me Before You (Me Before You, #1)|Jojo Moyes|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357108762s/15507958.jpg|17763198] my prediction is that you'll enjoy this.
I'm stunned this book isn't receiving more buzz, as it is one of the better books I've read this year.
"The One in a Million Boy" is about a socially-awkward 11 year old boy who is obsessed with The Guinness Book of World Records (known to readers only as "the boy") and a 104 year old woman named Ona Vitkus whom the boy interviews for a school project. Of course, to say that the book is only about Ona, the boy, and the school project, would be like saying that [b:The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|13227454|The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|Rachel Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335816092s/13227454.jpg|18156927] is about a man who went out for a walk. "The One in a Million Boy" is filled with love and humanity without at all being saccharine.
I'm not saying anymore, because for me part of the joy was discovering the beauty of this book without any preconceived notions. In fact, DO NOT read the Amazon description, and be very wary of reading other reviews, unless they are from trusted reviewers who do not give spoilers (you may even want to skip the GoodReads blurb).
If you liked [b:The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|13227454|The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|Rachel Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335816092s/13227454.jpg|18156927], [b:The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy|20890479|The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy|Rachel Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403202599s/20890479.jpg|39861474], or even [b:Me Before You|15507958|Me Before You (Me Before You, #1)|Jojo Moyes|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357108762s/15507958.jpg|17763198] my prediction is that you'll enjoy this.
The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood is about the unlikely friendship between a 104-year-old woman named Ona Vitkus—“all those demure round letters in the first name, followed by the stalky surprise of the surname”—and the 11-year-old Boy Scout who has been doing her Saturday chores to earn a merit badge in community service. It is pretty much the lovechild of A Man Called Ove and A Prayer for Owen Meany.
We find out early in the novel that the boy has died suddenly when the boy’s father, Quinn, shows up on Ona’s doorstep to complete his son’s obligation. “Quinn’s inheritance, left to the father from the son: an old woman.”
Ona’s friendship with the boy and then the boy’s father trickles out in alternating chapters, her own century plus of life stories sprinkled throughout. Bird watching. Card tricks. Homemade cakes that taste like chocolate but are made with tomato soup. It’s all very whimsical, heartwarming and funny even as it explores the complexity of grief and regret.
Wood does an artful job of interlacing the past and the present, thread by thread. “Can memory be revisited to allow us to see now what we didn’t see then?”
Her prose is precise—“The truth of this hurt him like a soft, blue bruise.”—and her insights radiate warmth—“But that was before Ona thought him a gentleman and made him want to be one.” Most of all I am struck by the book’s voice, pathos and humor.
If there were a literary award for Best Quirky Dramedy (Dramatic Comedy), it would definitely go to Ona and her strange, lovely, one-in-a-million boy.
Best paired with tea poured from a good pot, grilled cheese and a strawberry shortcake.
We find out early in the novel that the boy has died suddenly when the boy’s father, Quinn, shows up on Ona’s doorstep to complete his son’s obligation. “Quinn’s inheritance, left to the father from the son: an old woman.”
Ona’s friendship with the boy and then the boy’s father trickles out in alternating chapters, her own century plus of life stories sprinkled throughout. Bird watching. Card tricks. Homemade cakes that taste like chocolate but are made with tomato soup. It’s all very whimsical, heartwarming and funny even as it explores the complexity of grief and regret.
Wood does an artful job of interlacing the past and the present, thread by thread. “Can memory be revisited to allow us to see now what we didn’t see then?”
Her prose is precise—“The truth of this hurt him like a soft, blue bruise.”—and her insights radiate warmth—“But that was before Ona thought him a gentleman and made him want to be one.” Most of all I am struck by the book’s voice, pathos and humor.
If there were a literary award for Best Quirky Dramedy (Dramatic Comedy), it would definitely go to Ona and her strange, lovely, one-in-a-million boy.
Best paired with tea poured from a good pot, grilled cheese and a strawberry shortcake.
