Suzanne's Reviews > The One-in-a-Million Boy

This was a very sweet book, which I thank Goodreads and the publisher for my hard copy. I have never seen such a specific layout in a book before, and this made a lovely story into a quirky reading experience.

I love to read about the underdog, and here we meet a lovable 11 year old boy who forms an unlikely friendship with Ona – who happens to be 104 years of age! I also love to watch a character, seemingly flawed, grow from something not to be proud of into something to be absolutely so. Quinn was this character for me, this time around.

The boy loves numbers, he counts, and this is just one of his many quirks. Born to Belle and Quinn he’s an old soul. Quinn has been an absent father and is a musician and doesn’t seem to have bonded with his son. The last scene of this book brings us some clarity here, the ending was special.

A recording device is used by the boy to tape Ona as she muses over her life, the way in which this was captured was clever, we see the to-ing and fro-ing of the conversation. Ona thinks she’s seen it all and is very moved to realise how much this child has taught her over such a small period of time, after all it should be her teaching him, shouldn’t it?

The boy has a lot to teach, even his absent father. I love the imagery at the very end where birds have captured a musical note on his recorder that the boy was not able to capture. His dad would have been so proud of this. This is a slow to burn story, patience is a requirement but will be rewarded.