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joannaautumn 's review for:
The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik
by David Arnold
I had my fair share of YA contemporaries, some good and some bad, most of them dangling in the middle. I searched through my Goodreads YA shelf to see what other contemporary has 5 star quality for me and found only two other books – "The perks of being a wallflower" (of course, the legendary YA novel that actually is very good) and "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe" (also a very good book).
What makes these books great is that I can really feel that they leave an impact on a person reading it, more so on its targeted audience which is young adults and teenagers. And in my opinion that is the notion The strange fascinations of Noah Hypnotik leaves. It is less about the story and more about a feeling it awakes inside of you.
“I romanticize my past and I romanticize my future; right now is always the bleakest moment of my life.”
This isn’t to bash the story by any means, this story is good. It has a main plot and sub-plot (all the things that happen in Noah’s head during the hypnosis), it is all tied together nicely and even the reader feels “Trippy” or under the same hypnosis as the main character. The hypnotist did have his own agenda with the hypnosis, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing but it did turn out to help Noah change himself.
Our main character is in the age when change is happening – he is finishing high school and in come the college applications, the fear of being separated from his friends and the feeling of not really knowing yourself and what you aspire to be in the world. The things we all go through in life basically.
Noah is afraid of making the step towards all of those decisions, he knows decisions always impact the future, in a way not making decisions is his way of freezing time and escaping for a little bit. That’s why he wears the same clothes every day, why his room and everything in his life is organized, why he fakes an injury to prolong his decision on which college to choose or to choose any college at all.
The book did capture what is happening inside the mind of such individuals and I do think Noah is a relatable character.
In the end, he did learn that change is hard but necessary and a normal part of life, he decides to live in the moment rather than overthink everything (as shown in the last chapter of the novel).
In conclusion, I liked this book very much and would recommend it to any YA or teen and everyone in between.
What makes these books great is that I can really feel that they leave an impact on a person reading it, more so on its targeted audience which is young adults and teenagers. And in my opinion that is the notion The strange fascinations of Noah Hypnotik leaves. It is less about the story and more about a feeling it awakes inside of you.
“I romanticize my past and I romanticize my future; right now is always the bleakest moment of my life.”
This isn’t to bash the story by any means, this story is good. It has a main plot and sub-plot (all the things that happen in Noah’s head during the hypnosis), it is all tied together nicely and even the reader feels “Trippy” or under the same hypnosis as the main character. The hypnotist did have his own agenda with the hypnosis, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing but it did turn out to help Noah change himself.
Our main character is in the age when change is happening – he is finishing high school and in come the college applications, the fear of being separated from his friends and the feeling of not really knowing yourself and what you aspire to be in the world. The things we all go through in life basically.
Noah is afraid of making the step towards all of those decisions, he knows decisions always impact the future, in a way not making decisions is his way of freezing time and escaping for a little bit. That’s why he wears the same clothes every day, why his room and everything in his life is organized, why he fakes an injury to prolong his decision on which college to choose or to choose any college at all.
The book did capture what is happening inside the mind of such individuals and I do think Noah is a relatable character.
In the end, he did learn that change is hard but necessary and a normal part of life, he decides to live in the moment rather than overthink everything (as shown in the last chapter of the novel).
In conclusion, I liked this book very much and would recommend it to any YA or teen and everyone in between.