Freak Observer

by Blythe Woolston

High school, heartbreak, a miserable job, and a family as happy as sack full of wet cats--anyone can cope with that. But add hallucinations to the mix and you’ve got either a craptastic life or a serious puzzle to crack.

FREAK OBSERVER is a realistic YA novel set in contemporary rural Montana. In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that the narrative structure is not straight-forward and the book is rife with ambiguity. It is lacking in prom dresses and predictability, but it is rich in theoretical physics, murdered chickens, and an unusual and resilient main character...Loa Lindgren.

She’s spent sixteen years getting by on duct tape, guts, and ingenuity. She has a boot load of gumption and the problem solving skills she's sharpened in physics and computer programming. She also has a crippling case of PTSD and a plan to deal with it. She's determined to debug her own short-circuiting brain. If she keeps her eyes open and her neurons busy, there will be less chance for her imagination to brew up nightmares and panic attacks--and she will understand what it means to be a Freak Observer who identifies pattern and beauty in chaos.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Contemporary, Mental Health, Teen, Mental Illness

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Blythe Woolston’s first novel, The Freak Observer, won the William C. Morris debut fiction award. She lives in Montana.

Reviews

[Crowinator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this won me over -- just when I got so fed up with the relentlessly sad life the narrator, Loa, is living (seriously, I just about lost it when the dog dies in the story), things start to improve for her; yes, it improves slowly, and it's only a little bit, a glimmer, but that's realistic and doesn't undercut all of the reasons for her PTSD and depression. Also, I love a non-linear, character-driven story, so the structure and the voice held me through the rough patches.

Still, if it wasn't for Woolston's writing, I never would have gotten past the first 90 pages. I don't normally enjoy reading such sad stories, and I can't really say I enjoyed this one . . . but I'm glad I finished it. It felt meaningful. There were just too many sharp, wry, observant passages I was marking off with sticky notes to stop reading, and I'm glad that the story ends on a quietly hopeful note.

This is the kind of book I will think about long after finishing and probably read again, to catch all the nuances I missed the first time around. *longer review later possibly*

Here's three of my favorite snarky quotations, which I couldn't resist including here (I marked a lot more of them, but the others are too long for me to want to type them out):

[On friendship] "All friendships are unequal. If they weren't, power couldn't get swapped back and forth. We would just hover in our self-contained envelopes producing everything we need and eating our own shit. 'Mmmm!' we would say, 'That's good shit.' And we would all be perfectly happy and immortal, like yeast." [p. 72]

[On her job working in the kitchen and dining room at the residential care center] "I did not have much in common with the cooks. I am not a widow, for example, and I've never found my husband pinned under the axel after the rig he was working on slipped off the blocks. I am not fascinated by whippets or Judge Judy or the guy in the blue and white trailer who is running a meth lab." [p. 101]

[On how nobody teaches about dreams in school] "There was that inspirational speaker who tore a phone book in half and told us to dream big, but his message had nothing to do with our dream life while we sleep. He was all about goals and, I guess, dislike for phone books." [p. 126]

[Nova Waite · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, as an English teacher, I could criticize so many things about this book. But if the author is reading this review out of curiousity...I will temper my criticism with praise first--I thought the physics problems at the beginning of each chapter were outstanding pieces of craft. I'm a big fan of compositional risk, and especially look for "what has not been done before" in a book. I've never seen physics problems as a way to introduce chapters in a realistic fiction book. The writer scores points for that. However, I was a lazy reader and didn't really stop to connect the dots on how each chapter intro connected with all the others--but I can see that they connect as brilliantly as constellations. This is the kind of book you have to actually think about--if you "fast read," you're not going to get the subtleties. When I re-read, I will look at the connections between chapter intros more closely. I'd love to assign that as a student project, but some of the book's content is inappropriate, and so I would ask for parent's permission before even recommending it. I like to be as "realistic" as realistic fiction...and yes, this book has the infamous F-word in it, as well as "s--t," and the other detriments to our vocabulary. It also has, though not explicit, 1 or 2 "adult content" references. The author could've deleted this easily--it was uneccesary for this to be included--the book was good enough without it. However, we all know that in real life, you're going to hear profanity. We all know what young adults are being taught in health class. That being said, just because these things are "realistic" doesn't make the book seem any more realistic to me. First off, there are way too many conflicts. Without spoiling the book by revealing specifics, conflicts include: death, mental illness, terminal illness, underage drinking, poverty, etc., etc. And the problems are solved way too easily with a snap decision from Dad that came out of nowhere. His answer to it all is to start over--people in real life can't just "start over." The standard writer's motto is, "Write about what you know..." and sorry to say, I don't believe this author knows what it's like to suffer from PTSD. I do realize that PTSD can manifest itself in different ways, but I speak from experience when I say that PTSD involves much more than just having nightmares. Although I found Loa's nightmare "sequences" to be fascinating, probably the best writing in the book, her inner thoughts didn't "ring true" to me, and I can't quite put my finger on why. The relationships between characters also seemed hollow. Yes, relationships become strained after a traumtic event...but to really make that breakdown effective, you have to establish that there was in fact, a relationship to begin with. I never saw it much in the book, not between Loa and her siblings, Loa and her parents, Loa and her friends. The closest relationship was between Loa and Corey, and as a lover of horror, I was pleasantly Pleased by Corey's psychotic postcards from Europe.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carolrhoda Lab for the win yet again! Seriously, I've been on top of this inprint since they debuted with DRAW THE DARK and TRAITOR and they've yet to publish anything even remotely resembling a word turd. Their books are so rich and deep that you just get sucked right in and you don't even realize you were under water until you emerge breathless. THE FREAK OBSERVER is no exception.

Now this is literary YA that I can sink my teeth into. It's succinct but vibrant. Loa doesn't pity herself even though she is probably someone that should. The story is relatively plotless, with Asta's death happening before the story even starts. When you first enter, you're walking into Loa's shit storm of a life without an umbrella and you can feel every ping and fleck of poo as it hurls at her.

The main antagonist is someone that exists only in Loa's mind, The Bony Guy. Death. He's always there, haunting her, keeping her alone in life. And her loneliness is tangible. Her parents don't see her as their child but as a burden, especially when she falls out of line, like getting hit by a car. Such a bad kid. Her only friend moves away but she finds something out about him that makes her doubt the relationship for most of the book. Her little brother is kept at a distance by her parents, as if they're afraid he'll catch something from her. This girl leads such a loveless, lonely life that you can't help but feel for her.

The good thing (as if there's only one) is that Woolston doesn't drag the drama out for hundreds upon hundreds of pages. The story is poignant, telling the parts that need to be told for Loa's mind to get from point A to point B and then it's done. And it's marvelous. It's literary without the heinous, door stopper fat.

If you're jonsing for a phenomenal character-driven story that's low on plot but amped up with a multi-faceted character whose crutch is physics because it's the only dependable constant in her life, you'll love THE FREAK OBSERVER. I feel like all I'm doing is expounding on the fangirlishness with this review but it is that level of amazing. It's a character study with a glimmer of hope at the end. It's near hopeless but not quite. Loa is one of the most amazing characters I've seen and to have gone through everything that she has, it's a miracle she's not in the fetal position sucking her thumb by the end of the story. No. At the end she's standing up straighter than at the beginning. And for that she's all the more amazing.

[Louisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes with books like this, I can't bear to get through them. I read like ten pages at a time, I start another book--all in hopes of avoiding a seemingly inevitable outcome that results in the horrible wasting away of the teenage protagonist. And by books like this I mean books where the teenage protagonist just gets the shit kicked out of them--physically and emotionally--by life.

I guess I'm a bit of a coward like that.

However, in this book like that, Blythe Woolston's, The Freak Observer, I didn't worry. I read it all the way because as the storm of shit seeks to destroy Loa, our sixteen-year-old protagonist, I was utterly convinced that she would be fine. Loa, unlike a lot of the weak, needy girls that appear throughout YA literature masquerading as heroines, is a survivor. And I mean a bloody survivor--and not in the Destiny's Child sort of way that means wearing a lot of military-inspired booty shorts--and she's smart. Emotionally intelligent and pretty gosh darn good at math and science.

Finally, a book to pass along to my teenage girls that I'm not ashamed of...

[Chanelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story with a very strong voice, a very fragile girl, and a family that make you kind of grateful for what you have.
I enjoyed the voice, which reminded me of Speak, and I did like being in Loa's head...until I became bored. Not bored of her, but bored of the story. Nothing was in order, so I was constantly confused. Was this before her friend died, or after?
There's also quite a lot of talk about death and people's coping mechanisms. It made for quite a depressing read.
My main concern for the book was that mainly it was remembering the past without a whole lot of interaction. Just Loa's take on everything. I craved for her to have an actual conversation with someone that lasted more than half a page.
This wasn't that kind of book, and I couldn't quite finish it. I tried. I might try again. But right now it gets 3 stars because, though it was beautifully written in a 'stay inside a characters head' sort of way, it wasn't the kind of book I personally enjoy.
Did make me go hug my dogs, though.

[Phoebe]

One of those books that don't need a rating.

There's Holden, and then there's Loa.

[TheBookSmugglers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original review posted on The Book Smugglers HERE

The Freak Observer is the 2011 winner of the William C. Morris Award. This award is given by YALSA to a debut book published by a first-time author writing for young adults and I have decided to try and read all of this year’s nominees. So far, I’ve read Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride (which didn’t work for me) and Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey (which I loved without reservations). The Freak Observer falls somewhere in between those two for me. It is clearly a very good book, an excellent debut and I liked it – but I have to say that it didn’t completely wow me.

Loa Lindgren is having a terrible time: she just witnessed a close friend’s death in a car accident and has been having nightmares and panic attacks ever since. This is only the tip of the iceberg though, as Loa’s disjointed narrative (back and forth, back and forth) will eventually disclose. Financial disaster has hit Loa’s family hard and she and her mother have to work while her father tries to find any work available. And all of that come in the aftermath of her younger sister Asta’s death a year before from Rett Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder where development is normal for the first 6–18 months of a child’s life, stagnating and regressing thereafter.

The story then revolves around Loa, and her family trying to find their way again, after living so many years orbiting around Asta, who was effectively the centre of their family life. To speak of “revolving” and “orbit” is quite a propos since what keeps Loa marginally grounded and sane is her love for physics and maths. At school, she gets to work on a special physics project about Freak Observers – a hypothesised self-aware entity that pops-up in the universe to make sense of the chaos. She works on the project as she reminisces about the past year, all the while fighting severe PTSD (paranoia, nightmares, having visions of death) with little to no help as her parents have their own problems and they don’t have money to afford treatment. Loa herself needs to be her own Freak Observer of her own small universe and make sense of the reining chaos in her life.

More than that though, the reader too has to be a Freak Observer too, as the narrative is as fragmented a Loa’s brain seem to be. Perhaps, this might explain the causal distance I felt when reading the novel. Maybe Loa’s narrative and life being too fragmentary and almost emotionless is what kept me from being wowed. I don’t know. I do know this is strictly a “me” thing and I do know that those very qualifiers (fragmented narrative and lack of emotion) are expertly incorporated as symptoms of Loa’s PTSD – as both story and storytelling. I do appreciate that as I appreciated many other things about the novel. Like the lovely writing, for example:

"Ghosts are mostly habits of memory. In an old house like this, everything you touch is connected to another moment. The cupboard is full of ghosts. The bookmarks between pages are ghosts. The photographs of my unattractive ancestors on the wall are most certainly ghosts. Even the morning glories that grow by the back porch are ghosts. My mom plants them every year. She soaks the little black seeds and nicks them with a nail file so they will be able to crack open and grow. She plants them because there were morning glories blooming the day she came to the house."

I specially admired how the author deftly allowed the reader to feel an immense sympathy for Loa’s parents who at first might come across as abusers. The book opens as Loa’s father hits her with a toilet brush. When Loa has an accident and ends up in hospital, her mother’s first reaction is to wonder about how they are going to pay for the bill. As the story progresses it is easy to see how both are simply good, loving people, struggling with the terrible thing that has happened to their child and dire financial distress and doing regretful things as a result. These are not excuses but explanations and in the end, there is a sense that this family is moving forward, in the process of healing and that includes Loa as well. It is a sad story but also a beautiful and hopeful one. You know, the sort that wins well-deserved awards.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the months between when I put this book on my list to order for school and today when I read it, I forgot why I ordered it. I do remember that the heart and brain cover is what first attracted my attention, because I still find the cover intriguing. Good reviews and the Morris Award certainly played a part, and I would definitely have read summaries within those reviews and on the book distributor's site. Still, when I pulled it out of my bag last night, I wasn't sure what I was about to be reading, and I approached it with a bit of trepidation because I was more in the mood for something light and escapist than what I expected this to be. Now that I've finished it, I think I understand that a summary cannot adequately describe the experience of reading this book. And, for me, this was a book that was about my experiences of reading it rather than its plot or writing style or characterization (though I like all of those things about it). The Freak Observer immersed me in a period of time in the life of Loa, while forcing me to look outward at the real world from the high school experience to current events to how other people might view parts of the book.

Loa tells her story out of chronological order starting with her return to school following the death of her friend Esther and returning to fill us in on how that happened as well as some of the other recent tragedies in her life (Asta, her dog Ket, her father's job, Corey, a bicycle accident). But before you get to any of those tragedies, you are thinking about the toilet plunger bruise on her jaw, and thinking you know something about her life. You're wrong. There are no simple characterizations in this book. These are some of the most frustratingly, realistically complex people in fiction, though Loa's love for and care of her younger brother and sister are almost saintlike, and many parents would be pleased to have a child as helpful as Loa has generally been.

I love the physics, biology, math, and dream science problems or information at the start of each chapter. They are interesting to think about in themselves, and the way they introduce the ideas of their chapters and fit together as a whole is almost magical. I love the inclusion of "Stars at Tallapoosa," though I do regret that it must be the English teacher who is heartless. And, the mention of the artists of the postcards Corey sends Loa are still more references to look up and learn more about.

When I finished chapter 12, I had to stop reading while I dealt with my anger over popular attitudes and perceptions of beneficiaries of social welfare programs (which doesn't directly apply to the Lindgren family). I challenge anyone to read this book and still be able to make offhand comments about "the 47%." I found myself wishing for a safety net for Loa's family. Before reading chapter 14, I stopped to have a conversation about Dolly the sheep. Then, after reading it myself, I read pages 115-116(top) aloud to my husband. There is humor in this book, but it's a dark and cynical humor. Somewhere along the way I remembered Wendy Mass's book Pi in the Sky, written for a very different audience, and wondered if she has read this book (which I think she'd like).

While it seems as though this book may be unrelievedly depressing, as Loa deals with more grief than you'd think any teen could handle, she is strong, resilient, intelligent - and lucky. So, there is progression through the stages of grief, and there is growth in her character, and her family is not stagnant either. I wasn't completely satisfied with the end of the book, but I was satisfied and hopeful.

This is a wonderful book for discussion because there's so much both within it and outside of it to talk about. Unfortunately, it isn't a book for middle schoolers, and I'll have to console myself with the thought that some of my former students will enjoy it when I send it to the high school.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I find it weird that nobody teaches us about dreams in school. You'd think it would come up at some point, like maybe in health class or something, but it doesn't. There was that inspirational speaker who tore a phone book in half and told us to dream big, but his message had nothing to do with our dream life while we sleep. He was all about goals and, I guess, dislike for phone books."

Loa's life has been filled with heartache and loss. Most recently, she was present for the death of a high school classmate in a truck accident; the images and aftereffects of that event are added to the earlier loss of Loa's little sister Asta(from Rett Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder), whose death tore the foundation out from under her family. Loa now suffers from PTSD, and works to avoid sleep as much as possible, so she can escape the death-related hallucinations and dreams that haunt her. Her family is in dire financial straits, and while Loa hopes for a normal childhood for her little brother, Harold, she knows that he's had to grow up far too soon. Without Asta, Loa and her family have lost their center, and as individuals they are now spinning off on their own orbits. The notion of astrophysics and math figure prominently in this novel, as Woolston introduces each chapter with a complex physics problem/question.

Loa is a keen observer of those around her, much like the Freak Observer she chooses to write about for extra credit in physics class. A Freak Observer is a random self-made entity that basically pops up in the universe, outside of any established system, to make sense of the chaos. Loa does the same, and even though she tries mightily to make sense of her chaos, it appears overwhelming at times.

I found this a tough read initially, because Woolston's representation of Loa's reality often reflects the fragmented nature of Loa's PTSD. Loa feels that everything is crashing down upon her after her sister's death, but she slowly comes to realize that she may have some power over her reality as well. This an absolutely heartbreaking book in parts, and even the characters that initially appear unsympathetic (like Loa's father) are developed to the point where readers can easily identify with them. I was constantly reminded of A.S. King's writing style throughout this book - the same vivid language, alternating long-short paragraphs (used to great effect), and strongly-drawn narrative voices. It's a short novel, but you'll still want to take your time and soak in the language.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Em's Review: My new favorite word which feels kind of funny in my mouth? Orrery. An Orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system. Loa Lindgren’s family once worked like a science fair prize-worthy orrery (Our gears turned so smoothly and all the parts fit together so perfectly). At the center of their family orbit, was her baby sister Asta, taking the place of the sun in this metaphor, and the family’s life worked around their sun like the clockwork of an orrery (no one ever went missing like a rogue comet). But what happens to the orbiting planets when the sun dies?

And this is where we meet Loa, one of the most unique and memorable characters I have read in recent years. Loa has been suffering from PTSD since the death of her baby sister – she has nightmares, tries her best not to sleep, and sees things that aren’t there. She tries to not think about her sister, believing that picking at a wound just makes it harder to heal. But when The Bony Guy takes the life of her friend Esther (or does she take her own life?), it becomes increasingly hard to ignore how death has impacted her, as she figures out her place in the universe.

As I read, I had no idea where the story was going, but this lack of foresight didn’t affect the momentum and actually added quite a bit to the experience. It would almost seem unfair for the reader to have too much of an idea of Loa’s path, as she’s struggling to find her way back into orbit. The story is much more about character development than plot points anyway. Stuff happens, but the driving force is Loa and how she makes sense of events in her past and her present. Woolston’s writing style and story structure choices, as well as all of the quirky – at times funny, at times mind-boggling – physics references make for an enjoyable and memorable read, albeit the depressing story. The overall design of the book also adds to the charm of Woolston’s debut YA novel.

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grade: C-

Loa is one of the saddest characters I've read recently. Ever since her younger sister died of Rett Syndrome, a degenerative disease that left her infantile, Loa's family has fallen apart. Her often intoxicated parents treat her like she's the cause of their problems. Then she witnesses one of her friends run over by a car. Now Loa is friendless and has to work to help support her family as she watches her dreams of college fade with her grades. And, a new friend might be the most harmful of all.

THE FREAK OBSERVER, while filled with gorgeous prose and metaphors for life and science, is a novel without a plot. In many character driven stories, the protagonist develops insight while undergoing growth and maturity. Loa's arc feels almost nonexistent. Her circumstances improve negligibly.

Blythe Woolston can certainly write beautifully. I would have enjoyed the story much more if positive secondary characters in her life played a bigger part, even though her family was realistic in its emotional abuse and dysfunction.

THEMES: family dysfunction, siblings, death, grief, PTSD

THE FREAK OBSERVER might not appeal to all readers, but those with difficult home lives will relate to Loa.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loa, who has just lost a younger sister and a friend, navigates the worlds of high school and her family... all this interspersed with snippets of theoretical physics.

The narrator of this book had a very unique voice, which I liked. For example, in the library, she described the Dewey decimal system as "a ghetto for old books that couldn't just be put in the dumpster but weren't worth the trouble of assigning new numbers and moving to new shelves." She goes on to describe the "shelves of oversize books, exiled from their natural clans by their gigantism." I enjoyed that amidst her recounting of the last year of her life, there were these pockets of quirky description such as the above.

I liked Loa, which made it easy to be taken in by the book, and I found her world and her story interesting. At 3/4 of the way through the book, I still wasn't sure how it was going to end, but I found the ending satisfying. I would recommend this as a solid, but not at all ordinary, young adult novel.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read for the disaffected teenager.

Loa is struggling with a number of challenges. Her dad's out of work, her mom's got a drug problem, she doesn't fit in at school and her baby sister, Asta, is dead. The only person Loa can lean on for support is her friend Corey who's got issues of his own and is soon shipped off to Europe by his mom.

Then her friend Ester is hit by a car and Loa spirals further into depression, trying to use her love of science to explain enough of what's going on so she can climb out of the pit.

It's not a fun book with a happy ending but parts of it feel very real. Adolescence is a hard time, made harder by economic problems and parents so wrapped up in loving a dead kid they have none to spare for surviving children.

An interesting first novel by Blythe Woolston.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loa Lindgren, the protagonist in The Freak Observer, struggles to find her place outside her family after her young sister dies from a rare genetic disease. For years her sister was the center of the family's universe, and after her death, the family begins to fall apart, and roles that were automatic during her life lose their significance. Loa's character is credible; she is intelligent, thoughtful, a caregiver, but she is also cautious to become emotionally tied to anyone and so becomes an "observer" of people, but occassionally she must interact with them, which forces her to eventually come to terms with herself. I would recommend the book for older teens - high school level - due to language (not overly used "f" word, but it is in there), references to drinking, and a sexual situation that middle school/elementary students may not have the maturity to understand in its context.

[BradyF · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade/interest level:I think anybody from 6th grade to 10th grade would enjoy this book.
Reading level: I think the reading level is average.
Genre: I think this book was a thriller.
Main Characters: Loa
Setting: A medium sized town in Montana.
POV: First Person.

This book always had me entertained. Like for example in the beginning it talked about her writing a report and bam it started talking about when her friend was hit by a car. So as soon as it starts to get boring it becomes exciting. So I would recommend this book to most people.

The book is about a 16 year old girl named Loa and she is trying to get over the death of her friend and her younger sister Anita. While this is happening she she's a guy named The Bony guy in her dream and it haunts her. As this is happening so finds a boy and I won't go any father because that would spoil it.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is sort of like the female version of Catcher in the Rye. Or maybe it would be what Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird might write as a senior in high school, if her best friend had died, and her world had fallen apart, giving her nightmares and PTSD. Can you tell I'm saying "literary classic" here? Because it really is a brilliant little book. I loved the scientific references, and the little bits from the classroom at the beginning of each chapter. It was so lovely to read an intelligent YA novel once again. It had been awhile. Like maybe two decades? I wish Freak Observer could become a huge hit and bring back the thoughtful, well-written, coming of age YA novel that's been missing from the genre for quite some time.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I still have to do it. I just don't enjoy it.
That pretty much describes anything anymore."

Also:

"It is very hard not to remember something. It's easy to forget but very hard not to remember on purpose....

I know that I can't choose not to remember. I can't choose the slide show in my imagination.

I can practically hear my neurons laughing at me. The little shits."

That's the beginning and end of p. 147 of the copy of this book lent to me by the New York Public Library, and I think they've just bumped my review up from three stars to four. Because yeah. I like the way Woolston's narrator-protagonist, Loa, talks to and about her jerkbrain. It's pretty right on.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly original, brazenly bizzare, and (by the end) kind of surprisingly sweet. While I didn't necessarily "love" this book (nor am I sure what teens I'd recommend it too) but I'm certainly still pondering this one -- and that's pretty darn cool. :)

[Susann Cokal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captures perfectly that sense of everything gone wrong around a lonely girl who's seen too much death in her harsh Montana environment. The strong voice implies throughout that there's always hope for someone with a sharp wit and the ability to love.

[Millenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is awesome. I mean, how many books can you name that use physics problems to flesh out their main character? (As a warning though, it's also very sad and full of death. But also uber-original, which makes it worth a look, if you're into literary, contemporary YA.)

[ruby mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

NOTE: SPOILERS BELOW

Summary

The Freak Observer is set in the modern-day United States, through the eyes of 16-year-old Loa Lindgren. Loa’s younger sister, Asta, died of a genetic disorder - called Rett syndrome - that she had been battling her entire life, and it completely changed everything in Loa’s life. The Freak Observer follows Loa as she comes to terms with what death is and how she figures out who she is and what her life is about. Along the journey she makes friends; Corey, who moves to Europe after releasing revealing photos of Loa on the Internet; Jack, who hit Loa on her bike, but soon befriends her after they met again a few months later. She also experiences more loss, when her dog and her friend, Esther, die. She tries to find rhythm and new routines as her life continues to change. Loa goes through panic attacks, nightmares, and general PTSD after her sister’s passing, and along the story, she has to come to terms with how Asta’s death affected her and her family. What helps her the most, however, is a physics assignment about Freak Observers. She throws herself into research and learns that Freak Observers are entities that form upon the sheer amount of other universes, and that helps her find out who she is - a Freak Observer.

Themes and Connections

Themes in this book include dealing with grief, family, friendship, finding yourself, death, and how everything in the universe has a greater meaning than we could ever understand. Loa is struggling with a lot of things, internally and externally, and as the reader follows her, they see these themes reflected in the discoveries she makes. This book is very different from many books I’ve read, and I’m a little unfamiliar with the themes in The Freak Observer. For the record, I tend to steer clear of sadder books, so that could explain part of that unfamiliarity, but I also think some of it is that this is a very unique book.

Evaluation

I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars. This was a decent book, but I just couldn’t get into it, and the plot wasn’t very fundamental. There wasn’t a clear beginning, climax, or even a resolution. But, I also understand that it could be like this on purpose, and maybe Blythe Woolston wanted to be unconventional, because grief isn’t conventional, either. I found this book not very engaging because it was hard to follow what was happening, when it was happening, and how it was relevant to the overall plot. I do think this book is realistic, all the characters and events felt very authentic and heartbreakingly real at times. Blythe Woolston’s writing style was very quirky and original, and I think that works for some people, it just happened to not work for me.

[Sadie Schoenauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book the Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston is a realistic fiction novel.

The Main character, Loa, is a very intelligent girl. She has a family of a brother, a mother, and a father. When she was younger, younger sister died from a disease at which you act like you are getting younger and you have to go back to the basics of learning how to live. This greatly takes a great toll on Loa and her family mentally. The story’s throughout the book tell from the point of view after her sister's death. Another death in this story occurs when Loa gets into a car crash with one of her friend, Esther. This also very effects her. This includes things like trying to deal with anxiety and stress of the death and her daily life. This can include this can include her job and a guy that she was interested in. His name was Corey. The start of their friendship was when Corey asked Loa to be his speech and debate partner. After this things escalated to hanging out a lot. As time went by, Corey decided it was best for him to go to a boarding school all the way across the world in London. Corey and Loa then got into a big argument about how he does it care for her anymore. As time goes on Loa tries to look at things at a better point of view but things just get worse. She learns that her mom is going to be taking night classes so Loa, her brother, and her mother decide to move away from their father and the house they used to live in. She expresses her emotions with no emotions. When Loa moves away she then will have to attend a different high school. There, she meets a guy named Jack, that helps her with her emotions.

I think that this book is really about that things will get better over time. I say this because in the beginning of the book, Loa feels terrible about the past events that has happened to her. And as the story progresses, her feelings start to change towards different situations such as moving and meeting new people.

This is a very good book. The only thing about it that I did not like about it was it was very confusing about the time periods. I would say this would be a great book for middle schoolers and up. It is a very current read that has some very serious subjects.

[Carolina Colleene · Rating 1 out of 5]

Language - PG-13 (68 swears, 15 "f"), Sexual Content - PG-13; Violence - G
Loa is a confused girl with bad things happening to her. She doesn't know what to do about her nightmares or how to help her family when things go wrong. And a lot of things go wrong.
I think this book is horrible. It has no point, it swears too much, and, frankly, is a waste of time and space. I'm can't believe that I sat down and read this book that has nothing to offer the imagination, or anything else for that matter, instead of reading one that has one good sentence.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a weird, uncomfortable, scattered novel that I did not enjoy. The main character who is treated abysmally by her "friend" spends most of the book hating him but then "understands" his cryptic postcards at the end as his way of reaching out to her? Her parents treat her horribly seemingly because of their grief over losing her younger sister to an illness she was born with. Overall, there were no characters to like, a disjointed plot and a disturbing accident scene at the beginning of the story that is never fully explained.

[Mark Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something special about Loa, something special about characters and setting and the dog Ket. Something very special going on here. I will look at stars and life differently, for a time, which runs in this direction because….

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not planning on reviewing this one -- I read it for a class on young adult literature, and class reading always runs the risk of sucking the joy out of a book.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am very glad I finished it. Loa's life slowly got better.

[Isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, dry, filled to the brim with sarcasm and darkness. I can't imagine a story like being told any other way. A memorable book, in my opinion.

[Cynthia Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story.

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this thread! I am always so worried about spoiling the book that my reviews are usually just a few sentences and basically pointless