bookshelvesandtealeaves 's review for:

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I really love the way Trent Dalton writes. There’s something whimsical, almost lyrical, in his prose. In fact, Eli, the main character, is told that the way he writes is very flowery, and while it’s not necessarily said as a compliment within the book, I wholeheartedly mean it as a compliment to Dalton himself. The prose flows so beautifully I just get lost in it.

Boy Swallows Universe follows Eli, a young teenage boy with an absent father, a drug dealer mother and step-father, a mute brother, and an infamous criminal for a baby sitter, on his quest to find answers and justice, to save the people he loves, to become a journalist, and to fall in love. His world is dark and gritty and not really happy, and yet he manages to find happiness and beauty in the muck. He has dreams and ambitions and a heart full of so much love and very few places to put it. I just loved him so much.

I really enjoyed Slim as a character, too. He was honestly just so much fun to read.

This book deals with a lot of heavy topics such as addiction, mental illness, domestic abuse, loss and trauma, so please be aware that this is a heavy book before reading.