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A review by claudiaswisher
The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini
4.0
I love authors who don't rewrite the same book over and over...authors who take chances and risks. Vizzini is at the top of my list of authors who will try something new. While his characters are often similar...slightly out-of-place, geeky boys who overthink things and make embarrassing social faux-pas, the situations Vizzini puts his characters in are completely original.
Poor Perry. He and his brother actually seem to have better relationships with their divorced-parents' lawyers/significant others. Perry loved to play Creatures & Caverns, a poorly-disguised Dungeons and Dragons game. But Perry plays alone because he has very few friends. His mother calls him a "Late Bloomer," but Perry worries he won't bloom at all.
Parents and lawyers send him to a camp, to force social interactions and force him to interact with others. The kids at the camp are rough, scary street-smart kids who don't take kindly to gently Perry. But, right there on the grounds of Camp Washiska Lake, is the portal to the land of Creatures & Caverns, and a group of creatures called 'the Other Normals.' Each person Perry knows is a 'correspondent' to someone in his real world.
In the land of Other Normals, Perry is strong and resourceful. He takes risks and he goes on quests. Every time he returns the Camp, he discovers some details in his life have changed...He falls in love, learns to understand his brother's (and his) addictions. He learns to talk to girls, he fights monsters. He learns so much about himself.
I laughed out loud, snickered and snorted. I cheered for every good deed Perry did, and cringed in horror every time he did something Perry-geeky. I fell in love with this wallflower who learns to expect miracles of himself.
Strange book, but a great one.
Poor Perry. He and his brother actually seem to have better relationships with their divorced-parents' lawyers/significant others. Perry loved to play Creatures & Caverns, a poorly-disguised Dungeons and Dragons game. But Perry plays alone because he has very few friends. His mother calls him a "Late Bloomer," but Perry worries he won't bloom at all.
Parents and lawyers send him to a camp, to force social interactions and force him to interact with others. The kids at the camp are rough, scary street-smart kids who don't take kindly to gently Perry. But, right there on the grounds of Camp Washiska Lake, is the portal to the land of Creatures & Caverns, and a group of creatures called 'the Other Normals.' Each person Perry knows is a 'correspondent' to someone in his real world.
In the land of Other Normals, Perry is strong and resourceful. He takes risks and he goes on quests. Every time he returns the Camp, he discovers some details in his life have changed...He falls in love, learns to understand his brother's (and his) addictions. He learns to talk to girls, he fights monsters. He learns so much about himself.
I laughed out loud, snickered and snorted. I cheered for every good deed Perry did, and cringed in horror every time he did something Perry-geeky. I fell in love with this wallflower who learns to expect miracles of himself.
Strange book, but a great one.