40. Once For Yes

 

40. Once for Yes. Allie Millington. 2025. 272 pages. [Source: Library] [magic realism, mg fiction, 3 stars]

First sentence: My beginning began with a brick. Might not sound like much, but hey. We've all got to start somewhere. Brick by brick by brick, until I became a big enough box to fit people inside. Wouldn't have been my first choice. Too bad no one asked me. Almost fifty years later, and I was still full of them.

Premise/plot: Once For Yes is narrated by several characters, one of which is the apartment building itself, The Odenburgh. Primarily the narration is between the building (The Odenburgh) and Prue (from apartment 4C) with only occasional additional perspectives. Two major stories essentially collide in this one: a) Prue is mourning the loss of her sister, Lina, who died about a year before--hit by a car; b) The Odenburgh (the building) is facing demolition. The tenants have been put on notice to move within a month. The building is going down, down, and nothing can save it. The building--of course--being magical tries to communicate with Prue--more receptive than the others in the building. The problem? Prue is convinced that it is the dead Lina reaching out from beyond the grave. Can the building be saved? Should the building be saved?

My thoughts: This one is from the author of Olivetti--a novel from the perspective of a typewriter. This one had all of the same magical realism elements as Olivetti. However, the themes and tones are different. I don't know why the building impersonating a dead Lina bothers me. But it does. For better or worse. I didn't dislike this one. I just didn't love it. There's nothing wrong with merely liking something.

 

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

114. Miracle Season

Miracle Season. Beth Hautala. 2022. [August] 320 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Persephone Pearl Clark sat on her porch step one morning in June, the spring sun warm against her back, watching the tendrils of a small vine slowly twist around her finger. 

Premise/plot: If you like a little magic realism with your coming of age drama, Miracle Season might be a great fit for you. Our protagonist, Persephone, is struggling with grief (and anger) in the aftermath of her older brother's horrible accident. Things haven't been the same since that tragic day, but when she stumbles across an unsent application to a reality television show--a show that spotlights small towns and home improvements--she follows her impulse and forges his name. One little lie becomes a dozen or so. As the summer unfolds, she finds friendship and hope in unexpected places, but will her new friends be there for her when the truth comes out?

My thoughts: This one has a healthy--though light--dose of magical realism. I enjoyed getting to know the characters of this town. The story is definitely bittersweet. No amount of hope and love and reconciliation and determination can wipe away the tragedy of that one day. But life does go on, and she has a lot of growing up to do. My heart ached for her. (I take this as a good sign that I was invested in the characters.) There is a CAT. 

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

13. Big Fish

Big Fish. Daniel Wallace. 1998. 192 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: On one of our last car trips, near the end of my father's life as a man, we stopped by a river, and we took a walk to its banks, where we sat in the shade of an old oak tree.

Premise/plot: William Bloom seeks to make the most of his last opportunity to get to know his father--really, truly, honestly--in Daniel Wallace's Big Fish. Edward Bloom is a storyteller, a lover of jokes; he has a story (and then some) for every single occasion. It doesn't matter if everyone has heard them hundreds of times--he LOVES to tell stories. But, William Wallace feels like his father is mostly a stranger. His tales about his own life--Edward's tales about his own life--well they sound more like tall tales (epic exaggerations) than truth. Can William peel back the layers of his father's stories to find the real man? Does he even want to when all is said and done?

My thoughts: I love, love, love, love, love the movie. I do. I discovered it late--only last year--but I have seen it three or four times now and I just love it. It is fantastical, strange, bizarre, and ultimately satisfying. The book and film are quite different. The tall tales are there, but they are different. The book spins tales that the movie doesn't have; the movie spins tales that the book doesn't have. I think the spirit of the book is captured in the film. But the book is perhaps even more ambiguous than the film.

I found the movie to be more satisfying than the book. That being said, the book is definitely readable. It is a quick read--a literary read. It is a blend of tall tales and more serious chapters. There are four chapters titled 'My Father's Death.' These are chapters where William seems to be preparing himself mentally, emotionally, spiritually, to handle the inevitable death of his father. He's imagining how it will play out.

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

82. That Thing About Bollywood

That Thing About Bollywood. Supriya Kelkar. 2021. [May] 352 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: You know how in Bollywood movies, people sing and dance on mountaintops when they're in love? I wonder if they do the same when they're splitting up?

Premise/plot: Sonali, our heroine, loves, loves, loves watching Bollywood--something she especially treasured doing with her grandfather (before he died). Every Sunday the family gathers together and watches vintage Bollywood--on VHS tape. But things at home are far from ideal. Her parents fight and argue all the time--over matters big and small and everything in between. She hates it. She hates it that she's not allowed to be honest about anything going on at home and in the family--even with her friends. But her dad has a strict rule that NO ONE should know the family's private business. So no matter what she's feeling--and how intense she's feeling it--she has to keep the mask on that everything is just fine....

But one day that all changes...one day she finds that suddenly EVERYONE has a soundtrack and can burst out into SONG and DANCE expressing everything they're feeling. These big musical numbers come straight from Bollywood--and include a few makeovers. (Like her room is suddenly painted YELLOW and has tons of posters of herself on the walls. Like the cars her parents drive.)

Sonali's solos can't be contained--and she hates it, fights it. Yet glimpses of how she is really truly feeling keep coming...showing her true self to her teachers, classmates, family, friends, and strangers. To the world everything is 100% normal--the way it's ALWAYS been. Only Sonali remembers what life was like before...

Can Sonali find a way to return the world to normal?

My thoughts: I definitely liked this one. I liked the focus on family and friends. She's struggling with both. I believe she's in sixth grade? possibly seventh grade? And she's struggling with her relationship with her best friend. Everything keeps changing too fast and she's worried about losing her best friend. I think this is so relatable. And she's also, of course, struggling with her home life. Her parents are separating and she has so many mixed feelings. On the one hand, she wants a divorce and not a separation--and on the other hand she wants her family to be happy together. But she knows that her parents just don't know how to live with each other and get along. She hates that each parent seems to want her to pick a side. (I think they do this by accident without realizing it).

There are some humorous scenes--like when she disrupts a math class before a test--by singing a huge solo number. But there are plenty of scenes with DEPTH and substance.

Quotes:

Mom patted my shoulder. "I hope to get to hear you sing more. It reminded me of the gold old days."
"When I sang about grape popsicles and thermal underwear," I muttered.
Mom laughed. "They were silly, nonsensical songs, but they were an expression of who you were. That's important. Expressing yourself." She gave me a knowing look.

Why was I feeling so angry? It felt like a bubble of crabbiness was starting to grow bigger and bigger and rise to the surface. Was this the Bollywooditis? Or was this the real me, and the magic was tearing away at the mask I always put on?

"Divorce is like spinach stuck in someone's teeth," I said. "It makes you uncomfortable, but you ignore it and eventually you forget about it and no one is bothered."
Ronak just looked at me.
"What? You're kidding right?" he asked.
"About spinach?"
"You don't ignore it. You bring it up. You talk about it. It doesn't make you weak to express yourself. It's as brave as it gets, like Mom always says. I mean, what kind of person wouldn't tell a friend they have food stuck in their teeth?"

If the whole world, including me, got taken over by filmi magic, I'd lose all those moments--the bad, but also the good. Despite all the Bollywood tremors I'd been experiencing, I definitely wasn't prepared for that.

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews