More Nuanced, and Touching, Than You Might Expect
I approached this book with some degree of trepidation. The blurbs suggested that our hero Philip's main problem with his mother's breast cancer was that it involved, you know, her "boobs", and how embarrassing is that? That just felt juvenile and cringe worthy. It didn't help that Philip is a bit shallow and scatterbrained in the first chapter or two, which led me to wonder whether I really wanted to spend a few hundred pages with this kid. Well, fear not. Once this book gets up and running every single character steps up in class, and the book just keeps getting better right up to the satisfying conclusion.
Putting Mom aside for a moment, Philip has an otherwise interesting list of issues - including a crush on a girl goddess, a hulking bully, an occasionally clueless best friend, a teacher, a looming poetry assignment, and some other standard issue middle grade concerns. We also have a "quirky" angle that started out twee but actually built up steam and ultimately worked. Philip wants to be a stand up comedian and his idol is Harry Hill, (who is, for American readers' edification, an actual, popular English comedian and television personality). Philip writes confessional letters to Harry asking for advice, and these letters are a very clever change from the usual diary entries or imaginary friends or the like.
All of that is frame, though, for the main event, which turns on how Philip and his Mom deal with Mom's diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. In this storyline Mom gets equal billing. Both of them take turns being sad, scared, nutsy, grumpy, unpredictable, prickly, tender, hopeful and hopeless. The whole terrible saga is laid out in a middle grade version of clear eyed, which means that Philip is sometimes a reliable but uncomprehending narrator, and much of the subtlety in the storytelling lies in the difference between what Philip sees and understands and what he sees and misunderstands.
There are lots of other nice touches and interesting or edgy story choices made by the author, and some of the best moments just take up a line or two of text. This is not a heavy handed or preachy book, but it is rather sneaky. The upshot, for me, was that I became rather fond of all of these characters, and I especially appreciated the good humor and restraint that the author brought to the delicate balancing act of making all of these different pieces and bits work. A happy find.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)