The One-in-A-Million Boy

The One-in-A-Million Boy
I found out about this book from Modern Mrs Darcy summer reading guide and the cover and the short synopsis about an 11 year old boy and his friendship with a 104 year old woman really intrigued me. So I had high hopes for this book. I love books with the unlikely friendships like these two.

The "boy" (we don't actually know his name) is a boy scout helping Ona, the 104 year old woman, with some chores around the house. Then, because he is obsessed with unlikely world records, he interviews her for a school project and is trying to help her get a world record. So near the end of each chapter it has an interview between her and him on his tape recorder where you can't read his questions but you could almost hear his voice through her responses (I thought that was really well done).

Because of that, I thought doing this book in audio would be difficult and might feel a bit choppy. A gal reviewed the book on Goodreads and seemed to have no problem with the audio. I did this book on ebook which was fine but I'm always keen to the print...I just did the ebook because I couldn't wait on my hold at the library. :)

(Here I am a almost a week later finishing this review about this book and still thinking about it...good sign!) I don't know how much to say about this story because I read it only really knowing about what I just wrote up top. And I think that's a good way to do it. But if you're interested for a little more info...

The boy's father was my favorite character. He felt so real to me. He's a musician who travels and does a lot of gigs, a kind of August Rush's father in a way (probably without the cool accent though) ;) but he is was an absent father and that's what led to him getting a divorce (twice) with the boy's mother. But he helps out Ona in his boy's stead and things begin to change for him. In the true fashion of the boy's nature, I'm going to list off a couple of reasons of why the father was my favorite.

1. He is very human. Like you love him because he makes so many mistakes. But he faces those mistakes.
2. He is a character worth rooting for.
3. He is true.
4. He has redeeming qualities that make you believe that people can change and that they want to change.

There is one scene that sticks out in my mind at the end that, out of context, would seem kind of strange or not okay. But it felt like the culmination of the boy's influence and how people change that made it seem so good. I can't explain it without giving too much away. And then the ending...yeah, beautiful. Had to read it twice to grasp it all.

Just a beautiful slow story that resonated with me. It's definitely worth in a book club and I wish I had someone to talk to about it. 5/5