{ Review } Wonder by R.J. Palacio

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“I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.”

Read in December 2017

Wonder was a really entertaining book, I’m surprised because I’m usually not that found of Middle Grade, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. August Pullman was born with two rare medical conditions that lead to severe facial abnormalities, and despites having undergone many surgeries his face still is deformed. At ten, he has been homeschooled by his mother his whole life but in order to gain some sort of normality he’ll start his first year of school in Beecher Prep Middle School.

But all of us know that kids aren’t the kindest sort of human being. And I personally relate so much to that story. Yes, I wasn’t deformed, but back in middle school I had to wear a corset for scoliosis correction (if you don’t know what it looks like, you can see one here) as well as braces, and most kids used to call me “Robocop” in the playground. And even with that, I was lucky comparing to Auggie because I never was physically bullied and I still had many friends, and those were temporaries.

“I don’t want to brag or anything, but I’m actually considered something of a medical wonder, you know.”

I really liked the characters; how optimist August was, always trying to see the glass half full. He had a lot of support from his family and I liked that so much as I’ll never say it enough: families in MG and YA are so important, and so underrepresented. It was so pleasant to see how both his father and mother were supportive and attentive to Auggie’s need. I also liked how selfless Via was, putting his little brother’s needs before hers. All of them agreed to see how difficult it was but how it was worth it. I also loved Summer, she was the ray of light of this book and world need girls like her.

The multiple POV was wonderfuly written, and even though I feel like some of them were unnecessary (aka Justin’s for instance) they were well accomplished. Each had his/her own voice and way to think and speak, it was really believable and distinct, and I enjoyed it. Last but not least, I was delight to read how August felt about death, because the way he explained it is basically how I hope death actually is, see for yourself:

“I think when people die, their souls go to heaven but just for a little while. Like that’s where they see their old friends and stuff, and kind of catch up on old times. But then I actually think the souls start thinking about their lives on earth, like if they were good or bad or whatever. And then they get born again as brand-new babies in the world.”
“Why would they want to do that?”
“Because then they get another chance to get it right,” I answered. “Their souls get a chance to have a do-over.”