Close Enough to Touch

by Richard Peck

Matt Moran transforms his pain at the loss of Dory into new feelings for the older, beguiling, and opinionated Margaret and learns about losing, taking chances, and starting over

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

10 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Richard Peck was an American novelist known for his prolific contributions to modern young adult literature. He was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2001 for his novel A Year Down Yonder. For his cumulative contribution to young-adult literature, he received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1990.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Peck's subtlety, always with at least a sprinkling of humor, suits a YA novel about the aftermath of tragedy. In Close Enough to Touch that's where Matt Moran of suburban Illinois, age seventeen, finds himself. It took time to craft a deep enough connection with Dory Gunderson that he felt comfortable confessing his love to her that Fourth of July under the fireworks, but the moment was right. Despite her family's wealth and the modest means of his own, despite Dory running in a higher social circle at school, the two of them envisioned a future together beyond adolescence. That was before Dory's sudden death from a brain aneurysm.

Matt has experience with his own mother's death, and copes with Dory's by tucking his raw emotions deep inside. He reaches for alcohol to anesthetize the throbbing ache, but all he gets is a night at the police station so he can dry out and not cause harm. Matt's father and stepmother are patient, but they worry when he packs his bags for a drive to Juniper Lake, a special place he shared with Dory. Not even Matt knows what he plans to do there, but his family is unsettled by the possibilities.

"We live in an age of anxious vices."

—Close Enough to Touch, P. 31

Serendipity sees Matt cross paths with Margaret Chasen, a high school senior riding sidesaddle up at Juniper Lake. It's as though Margaret and her steed galloped out of another era, but she's no ghost. Matt takes interest in her intelligence, manner of speaking, personal philosophy, and the ever-changing way she presents to the world. He feels out of place with Dory's rich friends and family, but Margaret invigorates senses completely dulled by losing Dory. Matt’s closeness with Margaret confuses him; does it cheapen the love he admitted to Dory that wondrous July night? Navigating the rebound from a loved one's loss is long and harrowing, but Margaret may clarify the route. Will circumstances allow them a chance to try?

Countless books end with a tragic death and the start of the road to recovery, but Close Enough to Touch begins after that initial shock and probes into what occurs next. Grief is different for everyone, but the monster eating at Matt is something most of us can understand. Yet like Charlotte A. Cavatica's three spider children in Charlotte's Web, the sadness only recedes when a new opportunity comes to love someone worthy of your attention. You might at first take this second act for granted, but you'll come to recognize its fragility and not wish to break it through indifference. We all need someone to love here and now as a memory cannot be loved. Once you accept that, you’re on the way to healing.

Not every Richard Peck novel is my cup of tea, but he created some works of true literary art. I’d likely rate Close Enough to Touch the full three stars; its treatment of the characters is so tender and authentic that at times the author pulls off the illusion of being a creator God of human beings. If you love YA novels of subtle, complex emotion, this one is for you.

[Sean Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Peck is a great YA author, but this one lacks the depth his other books do. It is short, even for YA, and we don't even meet the other main character until halfway through the book. The resulting romance seems rushed, and I really don't know what she saw in him that she would return his feelings because we knew so little about her.

That being said, there are some fine character moments that point out why Peck is so good. It's just disappointing that the story itself didn't allow these to occur in a more developed story.

[Carrie Goodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book that ever made me cry. Richard Peck is amazing and underrated. Not by librarians, but by young readers. I wish I could get more kids to read his books.

[Eric Thorne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Close Enough to Touch follows the story of a young man dealing with severe grief. After the death of a girl named Dory who he was infatuated with, Matt goes into severe depression. He tries to cope with his depression in a variety of ways all of which fail. One day while running around the woods, he runs into a girl named to Margaret who changes his life and is able to help him with his grieving process.

Maybe I didn't like this book as much just because I picked it up without really looking at it. While I feel like this is a pleasant love story, I felt like there are a lot of missing aspects to it which would have made it better. For example, I never really understood the Love Story between Matt and Dory because it was never developed. However I don't think this book is horrendous and I would recommend it to anyone who really enjoys unexpected love stories.

[Rebecca Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, the cover on my ex-library edition had a girl in an old-fashioned riding habit sitting on the ground next to a boy dressed like the jock from The Breakfast Club. I was hoping this was one of Peck's time-traveling, cross-decade almost-romantic ghost stories, like The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp. It's not. It's Peck trying to teach teens something about their own conventionality. I know that to be true because I'm also reading his Love and Death at the Shopping Mall, a book I dearly enjoy. This book does boast a male protagonist who speaks to us about his (lack of) feelings after his girlfriend dies suddenly of a burst blood vessel. Peck was trying to hard to teach, a fault he overcomes later in his work.

[Kjerstin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because the cover --- which is not the one to the left but featured a boy in a sweater with combed-but-tousled hair holding a girl's picture and looking with soulful purpose to the middle of nowhere whilst standing in tall grasses --- screamed "melodramatic teen romance!" and the tagline ("To him, she was all a girl could ever be") screamed "melodramatic teen romance!" and the title screamed "melodramatic teen romance!" and the book cover said "Richard Peck," who I know does not write "melodramatic teen romance!" Or so I thought.

Lucky me; it turns out I was right. He doesn't.

This book is startling. The first chapter leads you to think it's going to be just another high school love story, and then the girlfriend dies of an aneurysm. The next chapter makes you think it's going to be a depressing melodramatic book about lost love and first love and true love and perfect love, but it doesn't turn out to be that, either. Instead, it ends up being a beautifully written book that chronicles how Matt Moran moves on from his girlfriend's death, begins to see his world in a mature new light and falls in love again with someone completely different. It has plenty of opportunity to wallow, and it does, but never slips into full blown angst. There are opportunities for random angry teenage outbursts, but instead I was presented with odd but believable leaps of logic in an inner monologue or a line of no-nonsense dialogue. In short, this book was nothing like I expected, and I'm grateful. It's not something I'd read again or necessarily recommend as one of the "Best books ever," but it was a good read and reminded me that sometimes --- if rarely --- you shouldn't judge a book by its (nauseating) cover.

[Heather K · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this book a young boy struggles coping with the death of his high school love. He deals with the changes that come socially, in his own family, and in regard to the relationship he has with her family. This romance novel takes the reader through the ups and downs of young love and the reality of the consequences that are accompanied with that. As he struggles through this and becomes more and more isolated he comes across and unexpected friend who helps him through.
I loved this book. It was simple and the focus was definitely on the ability to love as a friend, within your family, and developing a closer than friendship love. The question explored was once one love is forced to be estranged can/should we love again? I loved that I could relate to the relationships and wonder if I would make the same decisions as the protagonist.
Warnings: mild language.

[Taylor Lusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Moran has recently gone through a terrible loss. His girlfriend, Dory Gunderson, suffered a brain aneurysm and died suddenly in a parking lot. While dealing with his grief, he meets a girl named Margaret Chasen who helps him realize that he can learn to heal and love again.
This was a pretty good book. It was a short an easy read, written in a clear style. There are a lot of "feelings" in this book, so if that's not up your alley, well...

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another re-read from childhood (thanks, Amazon!) This one was not quite as good as I remember it being, the story was a little more transparent than I remember (perhaps because I read it so many times as a kid & already knew what happened? ) but still enjoyable. I will probably pass this on to the big kid.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Peck addressed teenagers dealing with real life issues. A high school boy's girlfriend dies suddenly, and he must learn how to mourn, as well as how to continue with his life. Well written, but I felt that the issue could have been fully explored if the book were longer.

[Cyndy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read other books by Richard Peck that I would highly recommend to young readers. But probably not this one so much. I think it needed to be longer so other characters could have been developed more.