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A review by briarrose1021
The Magical Imperfect by Chris Baron
5.0
Eton is a young Jewish boy living in San Francisco. Set in a fictional close community of families, the older generation of which had immigrated to the area together. While a typical pre-teen in many respects, Eton is selectively mute - and has been since his mother was checked into a mental institution. Struggling to find his words, Eton turns to drawing as a way to express himself.
While delivering some produce one day, Eton meets Malia. Well, "meets" is a bit of a misnomer, since they only talk through the slightly opened door, with Malia hiding in the shadows. However, as Eton continues making deliveries to Malia's home, the two develop a friendship, and it doesn't take long for Eton to learn that Malia has eczema and has been struggling with it for a while.
But through their developing friendship, the two learn about themselves and each other, and they also learn just how magical friendship can be.
This entire story is told in verse, with each poem doing the same work as a chapter. I did not expect this when I first started the book, and I will admit to being a little wary of a novel told in verse. I have never been one to get into poetry, as I've always felt like I'm missing something when I do read it. It's like there's some sort of missing code, and without that code, I just don't understand what's being said.
That was not the case here. Not only did the poetry tell this story in a way that traditional prose couldn't (not that traditional prose wouldn't work, just that the sparseness of the poetry served to elevate the story to something more), but it did so in a voice that truly sounded like a middle school student. Baron captured the ups and downs of pre-teens perfectly in this book.
At the same time, I really enjoyed having the story set in the fall of 1989. Though I was just days away from my 11th birthday during the major event of this book (which I don't want to give away, because the build-up to it and the action during it are really well done), because I was living on the other side of the country, I only vaguely remember hearing about it on the news. Experiencing the event through the poetry of this story brought it to life, and I agree with Mr. Cohen that baseball saved everyone.
So, to make a long review short, I definitely think this book is worth reading. I also think this could be a great book for parents and kids to read together, and the poems-as-chapters offer wonderful divisions for reading, even if there's not a lot of time for reading at one time. This is also a book that I look forward to getting a physical copy of. What about you?
While delivering some produce one day, Eton meets Malia. Well, "meets" is a bit of a misnomer, since they only talk through the slightly opened door, with Malia hiding in the shadows. However, as Eton continues making deliveries to Malia's home, the two develop a friendship, and it doesn't take long for Eton to learn that Malia has eczema and has been struggling with it for a while.
But through their developing friendship, the two learn about themselves and each other, and they also learn just how magical friendship can be.
This entire story is told in verse, with each poem doing the same work as a chapter. I did not expect this when I first started the book, and I will admit to being a little wary of a novel told in verse. I have never been one to get into poetry, as I've always felt like I'm missing something when I do read it. It's like there's some sort of missing code, and without that code, I just don't understand what's being said.
That was not the case here. Not only did the poetry tell this story in a way that traditional prose couldn't (not that traditional prose wouldn't work, just that the sparseness of the poetry served to elevate the story to something more), but it did so in a voice that truly sounded like a middle school student. Baron captured the ups and downs of pre-teens perfectly in this book.
At the same time, I really enjoyed having the story set in the fall of 1989. Though I was just days away from my 11th birthday during the major event of this book (which I don't want to give away, because the build-up to it and the action during it are really well done), because I was living on the other side of the country, I only vaguely remember hearing about it on the news. Experiencing the event through the poetry of this story brought it to life, and I agree with Mr. Cohen that baseball saved everyone.
So, to make a long review short, I definitely think this book is worth reading. I also think this could be a great book for parents and kids to read together, and the poems-as-chapters offer wonderful divisions for reading, even if there's not a lot of time for reading at one time. This is also a book that I look forward to getting a physical copy of. What about you?