A review by nathansnook
Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

The first in the series. I remember first picking this up because it was the first time I saw my name on the cover of a book. I wanted to know who this other Nathan was.

And to come across the deep dark red drawings of monsters scrawled over a baby brother’s room brought out an exciting terror and perhaps darkness to the broody way in which Nate wanted to capture for himself as a Sherlock with a twist of noir. But he’s soft, fluffy as his lived food, pancakes. And he has a crush, perhaps, on a girl, but a second reading could also show the queerness in his creative approach to the way he solves mysteries.

β€œπ˜ 𝘸𝘰𝘢𝘭π˜₯ 𝘭π˜ͺ𝘬𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘯π˜ͺ𝘦 π˜ͺ𝘧 𝘐 𝘭π˜ͺ𝘬𝘦π˜₯ 𝘨π˜ͺ𝘳𝘭𝘴.”

And then it was there years after a proper rereading that I saw myself in a single line with my own single life as a single line of history. In the big if.

And I think back to my first love. I think back to the terrors, mere drawings, to shed light into the great mystery of life. A girl wants to find her own piece of imagination, and a boy, full of wonder, helps her find it. Isn’t that love? Isn’t that life?