BOTM for MAY 2016 is The Thing About Jellyfish

[Jemima]

With 35.4% of the vote this month, Ali Benjamin's The Thing About Jellyfish is our BOTM. It beat Flush into second place (20%). We had a good turnout for voting this month - thank you all for taking part.

I hope you can find a copy to read without too much difficulty.

Post your thoughts and comments on the book here, try not to introduce spoilers too abruptly!

[Rebecca]

Just placed a hold on mine from the library. Should be here within the week.

[Justine]

The back of the book says "A heart-breaking beautiful story of...." I'm only into page 20 and I can already see that it is going to move me.

[Rebecca]

I got it yesterday and read the 1st 20 pages this afternoon. I agree.

[Justine]

Wow, what a book. Loved it and so glad this was voted book of the month. I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to discover it otherwise. Wish I could write like that. Very compelling. Almost like the MG version of the YA book Speak. What's also great about this book is that I've learnt so much about jellyfishes, and wouldn't have remembered the facts as much as if I had read it in a non-fiction book or in an aquarium exhibit.

[Jemima]

It sounds almost worth buying, since my library doesn't have it. But it's £5 ($7) even on kindle, so I'm going to have to miss it.

[Scott]

Just got started on it. Reminds me a bit of A Fault in our Stars so far.

[Scott]

Finished it up. I'll write an actual review shortly, but doing that on an iPhone on the train requires a bit more effort than I'm willing to put in at the moment. Overall, I'd say a good book. As Justine notes, it's full of interesting facts about jellyfish. The author did a great job with character development, drawing out a lot of the personalities I remember from middle school. An interesting plot and good pacing kept it moving forward to a believable and satisfactory conclusion.

[Rebecca]

I thought it was a lovely book, but did have some mixed feelings--more because of what has been done too often than anything wrong with this particular book.

I posted my review on my blog:
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2016/05...

The gist is that it was a very moving book--and yet another with a MC clearly rather Aspreger's, which is starting to feel like a facile way to make a character have trouble relating to peers. As though that weren't normal in Jr. High.

[Cheryl]

I'm afraid of reading something too much like what I've read so much of already, myself. Grief, Asperger's, science nerd... It's ready for me to pu from my library, but I might wind not finishing it, or judging it more harshly than it deserves.

[Justine]

Wow, I never saw that Aspergers thing coming! But I must admit, I thought the obsession seemed familiar. Nonetheless I decided to go with the flow because I liked the concept that our MC does not get peer-pressured into the stereotype of suddenly being into boys and make-up just because she was 12 years old. The way I saw it was that she had not hit puberty, while her friend had. Hence we see the difference in being not squeamish and socially immature. I didn't see it as Aspergers; her obsession was borne out of a need to find a higher reason for her friend's death, a subconscious way of filling the vacuum.

[Rebecca]

I got the feeling that part of why she was such an outsider was that she has long had a habit of going on and on about whatever she's into. She makes reference to that here and there.

I do like a character who doesn't fit in, and doesn't turn all gooey about boys and makeup just because she's started middle school. I am bothered by a trend that almost suggests that for a kid NOT to be a jerk in middle school he/she almost has to be neurologically different.

I was going to say "look at me. I never got that way." But that might beg the Asperger's question :D

[Dixie]

I ordered a used book, and it arrived yesterday, in good shape but I came here to read the posts before starting it.

[Courtney]

Overall I liked the book, thought it was well written and I was drawn to finishing it as soon as I could. But I was confused by what Suzy does to Franny in an effort to bring Franny back to her senses (I'm not sure if we're supposed to leave out spoilers so I'll be careful). I guess I didn't find her action quite realistic, not that it couldn't ever be realistic for a middle school girl to be that nasty. I just didn't think it made sense for Suzy to be so blind to the fact that what she did would only make the situation worse. I picked up on the maybe-Asperger's aspect of her character, but I didn't see that fleshed out enough to explain her behavior at this crucial part of the story. So that kept me from really becoming fully invested in the story, even though I still would say I enjoyed it.

[Rebecca]

Yes, we have no spoilers :) If you need to put one in, there's a way to hide them, but I've forgotten how :p

I agree about Suzy's "cure" being over the top, and not something that I could imagine her thinking would do the job. Though she was looking for shock value, and there's the tie-in to the conversation that put Suzy totally on the outside of Franny's group.

[Jemima]

Rebecca wrote: "Yes, we have no spoilers :) If you need to put one in, there's a way to hide them, but I've forgotten how :p


Click the (some html is ok) above the comments box for a handy list.

spoiler is: <"spoiler">...<"/spoiler"> taking the " out (otherwise it wouldn't display here)

[Rebecca]

Thanks, Jemima.

[Susan]

I'm reading... I like so far. The quality of writing is good. Found a typo though... p110. Pretty amazing for me - I'm normally oblivious.

[Susan]

I liked the back of the book blurb so much and I really wanted to like the book. I liked the jellyfish science a lot. I liked the science blurbs at the start of each chapter. I appreciated that it was well edited! But, it dragged through the long slow middle. I thought the MC used overly mature adult problem solving skills in some issues and was a two year old in others. Sometimes the MC narration was decidedly unkidlike. I didn’t like the choices she made and I sure didn’t like the blame game she played. I seriously don’t think readers need to be coached in the best ways to keep secrets from their parents. Grief is not an excuse for her behavior. I’m glad I read it because I learned how out of touch I am. This book is a Choice Award book in Goodreads. I’d give it a 2 star if I reviewed it on Amazon.

[Courtney]

I agree with your comment about the MC being both too adult-like and extremely immature all at once. That's probably why I couldn't see her decision to do what she did to Franny as realistic. Overall I felt like there was a lot of potential for an emotionally engaging story, but some of the character development issues kept the plot from being as effective as it could have been.

[Rebecca]

That odd mix of too-mature and incredibly immature is the (stereo)typical marker for Asperger's. To some degree, it's accurate (it's a matter of a huge discrepancy between intellectual maturity and social/emotional maturity). But it starts to feel like a "cheat" to me.

Actually, I thought that her successes and failures on the way to trying to make her trip were about right--whatever could be figured out intellectually worked, but the executive skills fell down in the end.

[Cheryl]

Well, I'm not convinced she has Asperger's. I am convinced that her parents were grossly insufficiently supportive.

I really liked the science, and the design that supported the scientific method... although I would have liked new drawings at each part just because jellyfish are so beautiful in all their varieties.

Btw, here's the poem from which Rocco quotes, early in the book:

Is not this a true autumn day?
Just the still melancholy that I love –
that makes life and nature harmonise.
The birds are consulting about their migrations,
the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay,
and begin to strew the ground,
that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air,
while they give us a scent that is
a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit.
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird
I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

— George Eliot, [Letter to Miss Eliot, Oct. 1, 1841]

And the Fireflies song, with lyrics, is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXbsF...

[Rebecca]

Funny, I had the same thought about the jelly drawings! I was hoping for a new kind of jelly in each chapter.

[Lori]

I'm about half way through the audiobook. Never thought about drawings at all!

I have a grown son on the Autism Spectrum (Asperger's). They say that when you've met one person with autism... you've met one person with autism. Every one is unique. However, Suzie does seem to be pretty socially aware, and cares about it, which would be pretty unusual in my experience.

I don't like the parts that are in first person present narrative at all. Not sure I'll finish this book. Depends what else comes in for me at the library.

[Cheryl]

Some of you, especially those of you who liked the science bits and the heartwarming bits, would probably like The Naked Mole-Rat Letters. Bonus: it's shorter, and has some truly funny bits.

[Scott]

That can be my "N" book for the month. :)

[Rebecca]

Well, maybe it's just me. Suzy is pretty clueless about why her long rambles on her own obsessions don't go over well--or why the other kids are grossed out by her disquisition on urine. That was what made me feel like it might be Asperger's.

[Cheryl]

True.

But Suzy and I have a lot in common, for example more interest in the in-depth scientific discussions, and no interest in small talk, and I'm not on the spectrum.

I think over-diagnosis of 'fad' conditions is a real problem. Not so long ago, way too many kids were put on Ritalin, and I think too many nowadays are getting diagnosed as having Asperger's. Not saying anyone here would do that to a kid, or that some kids don't benefit from the specific therapy offered for specific challenges... but care needs to be taken to avoid making assumptions, that's all I'm saying.

It could well be that Ali Benjamin left it unsaid, intentionally, expecting us to guess for ourselves.

[Jemima]

Rebecca wrote: "Well, maybe it's just me. Suzy is pretty clueless about why her long rambles on her own obsessions don't go over well--or why the other kids are grossed out by her disquisition on urine. That was w..."

That sounds like me, too. And a couple of my friends. One may be on the spectrum...

[Rebecca]

Cheryl wrote: "It could well be that Ali Benjamin left it unsaid, intentionally, expecting us to guess for ourselves.."

Good point. I kind of hope she wasn't using Asperger's, because as I think I mentioned, it feels like it's become an easy meme for writers to make a kid not fit in.

[Dixie]

I had a third grade student who was a boy, undiagnosed with anything, brilliant, irritating and completely obsessed with everything squid. I felt like he could have been the perfect companion to Suzy. Everything I taught or tried to teach that year was interrupted by, "that reminds me of the ________ squid."

As for this book, I enjoyed it, it was good enough to keep me reading.

[Cheryl]

Gosh yes, you make some good points, Austin. This does present as a book w/ value, not just enjoyable, and therefore it's fair to have the high expectations you have of it.

[Angie]

I am so glad I was not the only one who disliked this book. When I read it last fall it seemed like everyone loved it. I hated it! I just couldn't stand Suzy or Franny. I didn't find either of them the least bit likeable or sympathetic. And I didn't "get" Suzy at all. Her mix of naivety and social awkwardness and science smarts just didn't work for me. If she was supposed to be on the Spectrum the author could have done a much better job of illustrating that. If she is not, then she is the most awkward child I have ever encountered. This book definitely was not for me.