The Only Alien on the Planet, by Kristen Randle

octopedingenue mailed me this YA novel from her own youth, which has recently been reprinted. I notice from its Amazon reviews (The Only Alien on the Planet) that people like it a lot.

Ginny, who unlike most teenage YA heroines is close to her functional family, moves to a new town and encounters a fascinating character: Smitty, a boy who never speaks, seems to drift through life in a dream without interacting with anyone, but writes brilliant papers. The school shrugs and accepts him; his family seems oddly unconcerned. But another teenage boy, Caulder, has been fascinated by Smitty for years and enlists Ginny's help in trying to get through to him.

This is the sort of book that should be absolutely terrible, but is actually pretty good. I should note that Smitty is not autistic, nor does he have any sort of developmental or neurological disorder. What's really going on with him is weird and maybe would never happen in real life, but is plausible on its own terms. And that goes for the whole book: probably Caulder and Smitty would never exist in reality but I believe them in the book, and the same goes for their relationships with Ginny. The characters and situations are almost in the realm of fantasy, but not quite; the emotions feel real.

This book and its combination of realistically depicted emotions with truly over-the-top elements, not to mention its sweetly heartbreaking trio, would not seem so odd if it was a manga. Further manga-like elements under the cut.

( Spoilers were nearly drowned in a pool. )

Shades of Planet Ladder!

The Only Alien on the Planet, by Kristen Randle

octopedingenue mailed me this YA novel from her own youth, which has recently been reprinted. I notice from its Amazon reviews (The Only Alien on the Planet) that people like it a lot.

Ginny, who unlike most teenage YA heroines is close to her functional family, moves to a new town and encounters a fascinating character: Smitty, a boy who never speaks, seems to drift through life in a dream without interacting with anyone, but writes brilliant papers. The school shrugs and accepts him; his family seems oddly unconcerned. But another teenage boy, Caulder, has been fascinated by Smitty for years and enlists Ginny's help in trying to get through to him.

This is the sort of book that should be absolutely terrible, but is actually pretty good. I should note that Smitty is not autistic, nor does he have any sort of developmental or neurological disorder. What's really going on with him is weird and maybe would never happen in real life, but is plausible on its own terms. And that goes for the whole book: probably Caulder and Smitty would never exist in reality but I believe them in the book, and the same goes for their relationships with Ginny. The characters and situations are almost in the realm of fantasy, but not quite; the emotions feel real.

This book and its combination of realistically depicted emotions with truly over-the-top elements, not to mention its sweetly heartbreaking trio, would not seem so odd if it was a manga. Further manga-like elements under the cut.

( Spoilers were nearly drowned in a pool. )

Shades of Planet Ladder!