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williamsdebbied's review
4.0
Alison Shandling is a good girl who is sure that her parents only love her because she is so different from her twin brother, Adam, who is autistic. The family spends so much time and energy dealing with his needs that they have little time left for Alison.
Harry Roth, on the other hand, has become an obnoxious bully as a way to cope with his mother's death and the fact that his rabbi father refuses to talk about Harry's mother.
When Rabbi Roth refuses to admit Adam to his religious school, Alison's mother becmes furious and tells Rabbi Roth that she wishes he could understand what it is like to have a handicapped child. Soon after, Harry is paralyzed in a diving accident and Rabbi Roth assumes that the accident happened because God wanted to teach him a lesson. Rabbi Roth responds by spending more time with Adam, which results in Alison and Harry also spending more time together.
Harry Roth, on the other hand, has become an obnoxious bully as a way to cope with his mother's death and the fact that his rabbi father refuses to talk about Harry's mother.
When Rabbi Roth refuses to admit Adam to his religious school, Alison's mother becmes furious and tells Rabbi Roth that she wishes he could understand what it is like to have a handicapped child. Soon after, Harry is paralyzed in a diving accident and Rabbi Roth assumes that the accident happened because God wanted to teach him a lesson. Rabbi Roth responds by spending more time with Adam, which results in Alison and Harry also spending more time together.
booksonhermind's review
4.0
Reread: I loved this one yet again. The thing missing from the story was some sort of conflict about what Alison was hanging out with Harry. Otherwise, I loved this story once again and won't be surprised if this is a reread for me in the future.
This was on one of my Library Saturday's list. It has a different cover. I grew to like the library cover. The other one doesn't have Harry who is also a main character. So this one suits it better even if it isn't the greatest cover ever.
Harry and Alison are NOT friends. Harry is consistently bullying Alison because she is such an easy target. She's a nerd who has only one friend and all she does is read books. She also has an autistic twin brother named Adam. Harry likes to play sports and has had to repeat the eighth grade book over again. He's the son of a Rabbi who doesn't know what to say to him. That's alright with him. His father isn't the person he wants to talk to anyway. His mother died years before and since then they have been on edge with each other. It's mostly Harry because well his father frankly doesn't have the guts to say anything to him.
One day a letter arrives and her mother drags her with her to see the Rabbi (Harry's dad) because he won't admit him to Hebrew school because they don't have anyone equipped with being able to handle him. Her mother goes off in a tyrant and says something about Harry. Something that made me wince because I knew he was going to become just that...crippled. She didn't say crippled exactly I don't think but she said something along the lines of I hope your kid becomes more disabled than my son because he is a nasty mean little boy and like father like son. Something like that. And the same day...
So Harry's father decided to tutor Adam one on one because he thinks God was punishing Harry for his dad not allowing Adam in Hebrew School. He is actually mesmerized with him. He does this but he still is tense with his boy and Alison sees that. Not only does she feel bad because she wanted ill will on Harry but also because he is in a way like her. Invisible. Alone.
Really loved this book. I love how they became friends in the end. I didn't expect Harry to start up with curse words. I don't really care I just wasn't expecting it. It's nice to see the bully conform but it is kind of disturbing to see it go down this way. The book could have added a little more. More in general and more about Adam. Harry was a little too harsh in this and I thought it was a bit excessive but other than that I loved this story.
The letters at the end... I wish it was that easy. Well that's it. Happy Reading!
http://shesgotbooksonhermind.blogspot.com/
This was on one of my Library Saturday's list. It has a different cover. I grew to like the library cover. The other one doesn't have Harry who is also a main character. So this one suits it better even if it isn't the greatest cover ever.
Harry and Alison are NOT friends. Harry is consistently bullying Alison because she is such an easy target. She's a nerd who has only one friend and all she does is read books. She also has an autistic twin brother named Adam. Harry likes to play sports and has had to repeat the eighth grade book over again. He's the son of a Rabbi who doesn't know what to say to him. That's alright with him. His father isn't the person he wants to talk to anyway. His mother died years before and since then they have been on edge with each other. It's mostly Harry because well his father frankly doesn't have the guts to say anything to him.
One day a letter arrives and her mother drags her with her to see the Rabbi (Harry's dad) because he won't admit him to Hebrew school because they don't have anyone equipped with being able to handle him. Her mother goes off in a tyrant and says something about Harry. Something that made me wince because I knew he was going to become just that...crippled. She didn't say crippled exactly I don't think but she said something along the lines of I hope your kid becomes more disabled than my son because he is a nasty mean little boy and like father like son. Something like that. And the same day...
So Harry's father decided to tutor Adam one on one because he thinks God was punishing Harry for his dad not allowing Adam in Hebrew School. He is actually mesmerized with him. He does this but he still is tense with his boy and Alison sees that. Not only does she feel bad because she wanted ill will on Harry but also because he is in a way like her. Invisible. Alone.
Really loved this book. I love how they became friends in the end. I didn't expect Harry to start up with curse words. I don't really care I just wasn't expecting it. It's nice to see the bully conform but it is kind of disturbing to see it go down this way. The book could have added a little more. More in general and more about Adam. Harry was a little too harsh in this and I thought it was a bit excessive but other than that I loved this story.
The letters at the end... I wish it was that easy. Well that's it. Happy Reading!
http://shesgotbooksonhermind.blogspot.com/
spaceyfaerie's review
3.0
I like this book. At first, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, and thought Harry was a jerk (which he was at first), but then as I continued, the book grew on me.
I’m going to get my real quick dislike with this book out first. There was some ‘f’ bombs, my personal annoyance. But not as much as in some of the author’s other books that I’ve read, for which I was grateful. And really nothing about sex, which again extremely grateful because I really don’t care to read about that sort of stuff.
The rest of the story was interesting in the fact that it is very real. That’s the one thing I like about this author, is she isn’t afraid to write about the hard things in life. And I’ve honestly learned quite a bit from reading her books, and I appreciate the way she tells people about life through her stories.
This book was shorter than her others, but it still felt complete despite it’s length. I thought the whole thing between Alison and Harry was cute in the end, because Harry finally cleaned up his act and became nice and yeah. And then the whole issue between Alison and her parents…when I read her parent’s letters in the end, I was this close to tears. Which for me, meant I was bawling my eyes out, but really, they were just so amazing and so true.
So in the end, it was actually a pretty cute read, but it was also realistic, sobering, and just overall a good glimpse into the lives of people suddenly handicapped and the living with an autistic sibling. And despite my few dislikes at a few parts, I finished this book with a smile.
I’m going to get my real quick dislike with this book out first. There was some ‘f’ bombs, my personal annoyance. But not as much as in some of the author’s other books that I’ve read, for which I was grateful. And really nothing about sex, which again extremely grateful because I really don’t care to read about that sort of stuff.
The rest of the story was interesting in the fact that it is very real. That’s the one thing I like about this author, is she isn’t afraid to write about the hard things in life. And I’ve honestly learned quite a bit from reading her books, and I appreciate the way she tells people about life through her stories.
This book was shorter than her others, but it still felt complete despite it’s length. I thought the whole thing between Alison and Harry was cute in the end, because Harry finally cleaned up his act and became nice and yeah. And then the whole issue between Alison and her parents…when I read her parent’s letters in the end, I was this close to tears. Which for me, meant I was bawling my eyes out, but really, they were just so amazing and so true.
So in the end, it was actually a pretty cute read, but it was also realistic, sobering, and just overall a good glimpse into the lives of people suddenly handicapped and the living with an autistic sibling. And despite my few dislikes at a few parts, I finished this book with a smile.
runa's review
3.0
This was Nancy Werlin's first book, which is glaringly obvious in some ways, as her writing has drastically improved since this book's publication. Instead of the supernatural books she's recently been putting out, this squarely fits into the realistic YA box. The book itself pushes the envelope, even looking at the title, with more provocative language than you'd see in many books. It all serves an important purpose (no pointless swearing or anything like that), and in the end, emphasizes the importance of certain scenes with that content, making it far more realistic than many YA books on the market. I spent a great deal of time while reading this book thinking about how drama-starved we are as readers. Werlin's book moves along at a slow pace, I will say that, but it depicts the average life of an average teen, making it a book readers can truly relate to. The main character, Alison, has her own set of challenges, as does everyone else, but they're not overdone for the sake of gratuitous drama, and for that, I have to thank Werlin. Some of the story gets buried beneath the many messages this book tries to send, and the middle seemed to drag on endlessly, but the end result is really worth it. Some of the plot points end on ambiguous, unresolved notes, but the ending of the story was breathtaking.
Rating: 3.5/5
Rating: 3.5/5
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