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A review by erica_s
See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng
4.0
I think this book will find plenty of readers, people who liked [b:Wonder|11387515|Wonder|R.J. Palacio|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309285027s/11387515.jpg|16319487] or even [b:Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer|7824997|Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer (Theodore Boone, #1)|John Grisham|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1275094812s/7824997.jpg|10872266], as well as richer & deeper novels like [b:Counting by 7s|15937108|Counting by 7s|Holly Goldberg Sloan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1396225872s/15937108.jpg|19034797], [b:Short|30201160|Short|Holly Goldberg Sloan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465965798s/30201160.jpg|50652462], and [b:Walk Two Moons|53496|Walk Two Moons|Sharon Creech|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389035862s/53496.jpg|1237212]. And this year, it might be an interesting related-read for [b:Every Soul a Star|3223761|Every Soul a Star|Wendy Mass|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1330221785s/3223761.jpg|3257851], and kids going out to see the eclipse even if they haven't been previously interested in astronomy & space.
The perspective and voice of the main character are unique but manage to not be grating on the nerves, although it occasionally gets close - for example, when Alex makes a verbal connection between related ideas & then uses that portmanteau instead of the actual word - like "launchurdles" for launch pads that resemble hurdles more than pads. (Maybe this just irked me because I was reading a few books simultaneously, and that kind of interruption meant I couldn't always recall which characters were present for the initial references.)
I thought the rhetorical device of the entire book being a sound-diary, with occasional ambient sound-effects was effective and well executed.
I am not sure if Alex is meant to be on the Autism Spectrum, or an intelligent child raised by a depressed single parent who neglected to teach him some basic information, or if the author just finds it amusing to have a capable kid get some things so totally wrong. I don't suppose this will matter to young readers who will get that he is intellectually or socially a bit different no matter what the label is, and might hear a message about uniqueness in this.
It bothers me that except for an off-screen best friend who is gone for the summer, Alex is the only child in the story; all of the other characters are adults - the youngest secondary character is 19, and the rest are 20s-60s. When Alex's adventure runs its course, he is belatedly rescued by loving adults who he won over by his quirky personality. His older brother does eventually notice how Alex has been coping by being extra responsible, but Alex is portrayed a little bit like a savant-pet to superficial but casually helpful adults.
It seems to me that this combination of adult-rescue-resolution & savant-pet-idolatry betrays young readers by depriving them of their agency and capacity, implying they and their peers couldn't possibly be fully cognizant of their situation, even if they are some kind of geniuses.
Of course it's unrealistic to expect an 11-year-old to cope with the kinds of dysfunction in Alex's family, and we can expect an adult to intervene. But did it have to be that the resolution happens when Alex is incapacitated in the hospital, and only informed of the necessary actions after the decisions had been made? In fact, Alex's part in the solution comes down to blurting out "Words are shadows, too!" and then pouring a glass of water for Ronnie to break his temporarily catatonic state.
The fact that Alex's depressed mother is Filipina was a fact of her (& his) heritage that is not explored in any way. Although it is mentioned that her parents (Alex's grandparents) lived in the Philippines, and (if I remember correctly) died a few years before, it seemed odd to me that there were no other members of her family who ever visited, phoned, needed to be notified, or could be asked for assistance when dramatic events unfolded. My observation of Filipino families in my community would suggest it is much more common to have many extended-family, intergenerational connectedness. Was the author throwing her Filipina identity into this as an afterthought, not bothering to develop it past a one-word descriptive out of laziness, or is this an aspect of their family that makes them atypical and unique?
Anyway, it was a captivating story. I'm sure readers who make rockets and ones who don't will both see that Alex made some important basic miscalculations but was brave to go as far as he did in running away to participate in the competitive rocket launch.
The perspective and voice of the main character are unique but manage to not be grating on the nerves, although it occasionally gets close - for example, when Alex makes a verbal connection between related ideas & then uses that portmanteau instead of the actual word - like "launchurdles" for launch pads that resemble hurdles more than pads. (Maybe this just irked me because I was reading a few books simultaneously, and that kind of interruption meant I couldn't always recall which characters were present for the initial references.)
I thought the rhetorical device of the entire book being a sound-diary, with occasional ambient sound-effects was effective and well executed.
I am not sure if Alex is meant to be on the Autism Spectrum, or an intelligent child raised by a depressed single parent who neglected to teach him some basic information, or if the author just finds it amusing to have a capable kid get some things so totally wrong. I don't suppose this will matter to young readers who will get that he is intellectually or socially a bit different no matter what the label is, and might hear a message about uniqueness in this.
It bothers me that except for an off-screen best friend who is gone for the summer, Alex is the only child in the story; all of the other characters are adults - the youngest secondary character is 19, and the rest are 20s-60s. When Alex's adventure runs its course, he is belatedly rescued by loving adults who he won over by his quirky personality. His older brother does eventually notice how Alex has been coping by being extra responsible, but Alex is portrayed a little bit like a savant-pet to superficial but casually helpful adults.
It seems to me that this combination of adult-rescue-resolution & savant-pet-idolatry betrays young readers by depriving them of their agency and capacity, implying they and their peers couldn't possibly be fully cognizant of their situation, even if they are some kind of geniuses.
Of course it's unrealistic to expect an 11-year-old to cope with the kinds of dysfunction in Alex's family, and we can expect an adult to intervene. But did it have to be that the resolution happens when Alex is incapacitated in the hospital, and only informed of the necessary actions after the decisions had been made? In fact, Alex's part in the solution comes down to blurting out "Words are shadows, too!" and then pouring a glass of water for Ronnie to break his temporarily catatonic state.
The fact that Alex's depressed mother is Filipina was a fact of her (& his) heritage that is not explored in any way. Although it is mentioned that her parents (Alex's grandparents) lived in the Philippines, and (if I remember correctly) died a few years before, it seemed odd to me that there were no other members of her family who ever visited, phoned, needed to be notified, or could be asked for assistance when dramatic events unfolded. My observation of Filipino families in my community would suggest it is much more common to have many extended-family, intergenerational connectedness. Was the author throwing her Filipina identity into this as an afterthought, not bothering to develop it past a one-word descriptive out of laziness, or is this an aspect of their family that makes them atypical and unique?
Anyway, it was a captivating story. I'm sure readers who make rockets and ones who don't will both see that Alex made some important basic miscalculations but was brave to go as far as he did in running away to participate in the competitive rocket launch.