The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B - A Review of the Novel by Teresa Toten

TITLE: The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

AUTHOR: TERESA TOTEN

RELEASE DATE: August 27, 2013

FORMAT/PAGE COUNT: ebook/256 pages

PUBLISHER: Doubleday Canada

PURCHASED: NOT PURCHASED - Net Galley

SYNOPSIS: 
Two-time Governor General's Award nominee Teresa Toten is back with a compulsively readable new book for teens!

When Adam meets Robyn at a support group for kids coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he is drawn to her almost before he can take a breath. He's determined to protect and defend her--to play Batman to her Robyn--whatever the cost. But when you're fourteen and the everyday problems of dealing with divorced parents and step-siblings are supplemented by the challenges of OCD, it's hard to imagine yourself falling in love. How can you have a "normal" relationship when your life is so fraught with problems? And that's not even to mention the small matter of those threatening letters Adam's mother has started to receive . . .

Teresa Toten sets some tough and topical issues against the backdrop of a traditional whodunit in this engaging new novel that readers will find hard to put down. (From GOODREADS)

REVIEW: 

LOOOOOOOooooooOVED IT!

It's only the best books that suck the reader in so completely that they begin to experience the feelings of the main character. This book has reached that goal in SPADES! Be careful. This is a story of a teen with OCD...and the OCD group he attends. Toten does a spectacular job of injecting the reader into that group. What a ride! I was there, sitting in a circle looking at all the other OCD sufferers...listening to their facilitator, Chuck, as he attempted to lead the group to a healthier less obsessive compulsive lifestyle. I cannot say enough about the way Toten guided the reader through the real--and real painful--world of the OCD sufferer. Spectacularly crafted!

Though the backdrop of Unlikely Hero was OCD, there was so much more to the story. Toten takes the reader on a ride as the main character, Adam, falls in love while falling apart. I've a feeling this will be my pick for FAVOURITE READ of 2013. I love the way Adam's inner dialogue played out; his fears, his feelings for Robyn (the girl of his dreams), his thoughts on the interactions with his mom, his step-mom, his dad, his brother Sweetie, his therapist..and even Thor, the quiet hulk of a teen who attended the OCD group Adam was part of. Just a great insight into the main character's itchy scratchy obsessive compulsive world. This book is REAL.

Without giving away too much of the story, Unlikely Hero is, IMHO, a story of a boy struggling to keep it together AND the illness he takes on as a result of that struggle. His mother plays a keen role in this struggle. Adam tries desperately to combat the forces of his OCD by attending his therapist's teen OCD support group. But Adam's mother is a hoarder. As he tries to repair his ticks and obsessions, he lives in a home that is getting swallowed up by itself. Throw on the fact that his mother is being stalked, and Adam's stress level is a thousand. Amid the chaos, he is falling in love with fellow support group member Robyn. He complicates this relationship with his axiom, Everybody Lies.

I guarantee you will be on the edge of your seat as all the loose threads in this freight-train of a story begin to come together. Just when you think Adam cannot take another thing thrown into his path, something bigger and more stressful happens. And it all culminates in a satisfying ending that will have you gasping.

When this book releases, pick yourself up a copy. I will be purchasing a copy! It's one of those stories you can read again and again.

Size: 5 1/2 (1/2 for the feeling of OCD symptoms that plagued me for the duration of the story!)

Alexandria of Africa - Book Review

Title: Alexandria of Africa

Author: Eric Walters

Release Date: September 9th, 2008

Format/Page Count: Paperback, 200 pages

Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Purchased: Blue Heron Books Uxbridge, Ontario

Synopsis: For Alexandria Hyatt having a fabulous life is easy: she knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. Being glamorous and rich is simply what she was born to be. When Alexandria is arrested for shoplifting, having to drag herself into court to face a judge just seems like a major inconvenience. But Alexandria has been in trouble before–and this time she can’t find a way to scheme out of the consequences. Before she knows it, she’s on a plane headed to Kenya where she has been ordered to work for an international charity. Over 7,000 miles away from home with no hot water, no cell phone reception, no friends or family, Alexandria is confronted with a land as unfamiliar as it is unsettling. Over the course of her month in Africa, Alexandria will face a reality she could never have imagined, and will have to look inside herself to see if she has what it takes to confront it.

Expectation: I had high hopes for this story. Having been to Kenya, I was looking for a read that would take me back there...if only in my imagination. I have to admit that this is a heavy burden for a book to carry!

Market/Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary

Review:

Alexandria of Africa is written in first person, from Alexandria's point of view. Interestingly enough, Alexandria is not very likeable. She's actually quite terrible. She steals for kicks. She lies. She's in trouble with the law and doesn't understand why everybody won't just leave her alone.

The story opens in California, with Alexandria facing a judge for a second offense. She is so blasé the reader wants to reach into the pages and smack her. Such is her sense of entitlement. Walters does a wonderful job of taking us right to the brink of unrest in the way we feel for the narrator. The reader wants to see Alexandria receive just punishment not only for her actions but also for her outlook on the world around her.

Although she does receive a sentence, it's not the one the reader would like. In lieu of a stay in a youth detention centre, Alexandria is sentenced to a work program in Kenya. The reader becomes more angry as we are privy to Alexandria's constant inner dialogue of entitlement. But we know she's in for a rude awakening...or a blossoming, if you will. Walters sets all the signposts for that eventual enlightenment with dead accuracy, through the experiences Alexandria faces along the way.

This poor little rich girl is a slow learner. As she meets the people she will work with in Kenya, she stubbornly finds fault with them where others would see good. The turning point doesn't happen when Alexandria is put to work in the sweltering heat of Africa. That, I think, is what makes Walters' storytelling so fine. He could have taken the easy route and made Alexandria open her eyes when she saw the work that needed to be done for these people less privileged than her. But she didn't. She did everything to make it look like she was working, when in fact she was slacking off...thinking about nails and clothes and cars and home.

Enter Ruth, a Maasai girl who takes Alexandria in to the world of her small village. It is an eye-opening experience for Alexandria that shaves some of the sharper corners off of this unlikeable character. The outcome of Alexandria's journey is a fulfilling one for the reader, who was beginning to think there was no way she would compromise her spoiled rich-girl outlook on life.

To tell you more would be to reveal more spoilers than I already have revealed. I'll just say that Walters wrote a fine story of personal growth that doesn't come off as being too preachy or lesson oriented. He manages to make the reader dislike his narrator to the point where they seek her failure. But he also manages to subtly make that character open to the possibility of change.

This was a pleasant read. It brought me back to the wonderful country of Kenya. It also helped to shed light not only on the plight of some of the country's poorest people, but also on the wonderful spirit they have in the face of that plight. I happily recommend this book. If you have been to Africa, it will skillfully take you back there. If you have not...it will allow you to see it as acurately as any book can.

Expectation met and exceeded.

Size: 4