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A review by wardenred
Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Adults think that because they’re in charge of everything right now, they should get a say in what our future looks like. But it’s our future, not theirs. It’s like school and our parents and everyone else is getting us ready to enter a world that doesn’t even exist anymore. Or, if it does, it shouldn’t.

Too Bright to See is probably my favorite middle grade book ever, so I cracked open this other novel by Kyle Lukoff with sky-high expectations. Alas, the book didn’t live up to them. It definitely has a plethora of touching, soulful moments, and the whole subject is so extremely important. I love that there are kids’ books now that talk so candidly and openly about gender, identity, sexuality, etc. There are a few scenes that are going to stick with me for a long time. I loved the hopefulness and the eventual queer joy of it all.

At the same time, I had trouble connecting with the story because Annabelle, the narrator, seemed to be written in a rather inconsistent way. She’s supposed to be 11 or 12, and sometimes I felt she acted that age, but there were some super large chunks of the book where I’d peg her for an 8-year-old or so. And then there was one specific moment where she demonstrated absolute wonders of maturity and emotional regulation that was really cool but also kind of out of character. All those inconsistencies in the MC’s portrayal really took me out of the story.

As for other characters, I really wanted to like Bailey—I always want to like nonbinary characters, I’m biased and hungry for representation, lol. But until pretty late in the book when they did have some complex and relatable moments, they felt less like a character in their own right and more like a narrative instrument that was there to (sometimes) catalyze change and (a lot of the time) educate. In the same vein, a lot of the kids in Annabelle and Bailey’s class often came across as just mouthpieces for specific ideas, or reasons for their teacher to talk about specific ideas. And those ideas are very good and important! But this approach sometimes made the whole thing feel less like a story and more like an educational pamphlet with plot.

The character who fascinated me the most was Annabelle’s dad, and I’m kind of sad that, by virtue of this being a kids’ book, his character arc got so incredibly condensed and rushed. I would love to read an adult novel with him or someone like him as the protagonist. 
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