Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda – DaneCobain.com

R. J. Palacio – Wonder | Review

Title: Wonder

Author: R. J. Palacio

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 316

Rating: 4*/5

R. J. Palacio – Wonder

I’ve heard a lot about this book over the last few years, but I only actually picked it up after seeing it in a charity shop. After all, if you can get it cheap then it doesn’t matter if the book is any good or not. Now, after finally picking it up, I can safely say that it’s worth paying full price for, too.

Wonder follows a kid called Auggie who was born with a facial disfigurement, and it’s basically a coming-of-age story as he starts going to a public school and coming to terms with life. I’ve heard this described as middle grade and I suppose it does follow a middle grade protagonist, but it works well as an adult as well and it’s earned its comparisons to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.

Of course, life isn’t always easy for kids like Auggie, but he’s still a pleasant kid and as the reader, you only want the best for him. In terms of its writing style and easy readability it reminded me of Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, but personally speaking I preferred this one. Either way, they’re both about accepting other people and I think that’s an important message to share. I have a lot of respect for books that try to do that.

All in all then, I wouldn’t say that this is necessarily a must-read, but it is still a pretty good book and I’m glad that I finally picked it up. I think that Palacio is starting to milk it with the number of spinoffs that she’s releasing, though. I was going to check out more of her work but it seems like all she has is more random Wonder stuff. It’s a shame, but oh well.

R. J. Palacio

Click here to buy Wonder.

Becky Albertalli – Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda | Review

Title: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Author: Becky Albertalli

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 312

Rating: 3.75*/5

Becky Albertalli – Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

I feel a little let down by this one, because I was expecting to absolutely love it and I ended up thinking it was just okay. The core story line was pretty good and everything I expected it would be, but I found it difficult to relate to the characters because the whole thing felt so American. Simon’s school and the culture inside it is nothing like the school I went to when I grew up, and there were a bunch of cultural references that I didn’t get and that made me feel more like an outsider.

Still, there was plenty of stuff that I did like as well, and I saw Simon very much as a flawed character. Not because he’s homosexual, of course, but because of some of the decisions that he makes and the ways that he acts. He complained about his teachers for following the syllabus and about his parents when he got in trouble for getting drunk. I was also confused by a scene at a gay restaurant that was pumping bass and freely serving alcohol to what appeared to be an entire room full of underage people.

All in all, this book made me feel kind of old. I related to the grownups more than the kids and couldn’t really tie it back to when I was a kid. But then, an ex-pupil burned down my school and I remember watching someone else get hit in the eye with a metal pole by another kid who didn’t like them. But it does have a positive message and I can see why you might find it relatable if you were born after the turn of the century somewhere in America.