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Okay for Now
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Okay for Now By Gary D. Schmidt
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I am not finished yet. I am on page 253/360. I don't think the book is flawless, and being me, I'll probably focus a lot on those flaws...but the book IS enjoyable. I haven't once considered skimming, and I've stayed up reading later than I had intended a few times because STUFF GOT INTERESTING.
Early on (before page 20, in fact), Doug the Protagonist had a lovely epiphany...he recognized that he was acting like a jerk - just like his jerky brother Lucas - but he wasn't really able to change his behavior. This felt right away like it would be a major theme of the book: how will Doug be able to transcend almost every model of male behavior he has ever been exposed to? Good topic.
Okay, weird side note - Doug is in junior high. Let's say that makes him probably 12 years old. This 12 year old boy talks a lot about what a great smile his mom has, how beautiful it is. He actually repeatedly says it is beautiful. That seems weird to me. I suspect it might be the author's way of "weirdifying" the relationship between Doug and his mother, since it is pretty messed up and in many ways the boys and their mom have switched places. What I mean is that the boys spend a lot of time protecting their mom from their abusive father, and mom doesn't seem to do much protecting of the boys. So while it bothered me that Doug thought about his mother in this way, when I started thinking about it it made a creepy kind of sense, because Doug was sort of taking on the adult role in their interactions. Sad.
Here is something I quite like about the rhythm of the story: Doug is experiencing a regular up and down shift of his place and popularity in this small town. His brother is accused of robbing the store--everyone shuns Doug. But after awhile the stigma fades and things start going better. Then the next thing happens, and he goes through it all again. I'm enjoying these quick turnarounds in his social fortune, and I think it adds a briskness to the pace of the story and keeps my interest level high.
Final thought for today - I really got a kick out of Doug's being entranced by the Audubon illustrations. I did that myself when I was first exposed to "Art." I would sit down in front of this colossal David painting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coro... and just get lost in all the detail. My parents would always leave the gallery without me, and eventually someone would have to come back and find me - but they couldn't really scold as we were in a museum and everyone spoke in hushed tones. It was great.
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The big hairy elephant in the room - The Transformation of The Father. It made no sense and was both maddening and a bit frightening. Maddening because it seemed like a pointless way to try to give a bit of happiness to the ending. Like - Doug's gonna be okay, guys, because his dad has really turned around and he'll make it through. But I didn't buy it, and it completely took me out of the story, as if I was suddenly reading a different book. Frightening because it sets up the notion that it is normal for deeply disturbed and violent individuals to have complete turnarounds overnight, and hey kids, if it doesn't happen in your experience, well, you are the unluckiest person in the world. Okay, that is overstating it, but I worry young people in similar situations reading this book might internalize something like that.
Well, since I'm on the negatives, I'll just continue.
I didn't care for some of the repetition. It got too cute for me. I'm not lying. Terrific. You know how that feels?
And what is going on with the police force in Marysville, New York? When they suspect the teenager Christopher of the theft they are ready to take him down, but when the father is the culprit...oh let's drop all the charges...WTF? How does that make any sense? Again, it felt like another weak attempt to tidy things up, because something has to be nice since we're gonna kill the girlfriend. Grow a pair Schmidt! You're writing a really sad book, stick to it...or at least try to make sense out of it. Sloppy.
And who is this mother figure? She apparently sits back and doesn't react to her drunken crazy violent husband abusing and disfiguring her son, and readily forgives him when he says I'm sorry with his weak confession...I understand why this happens off the page, because how could the author possibly make that scene work, as it is ridiculous and not believable and somehow offensive? Yuck.
And what 12 year old boy holds his mom's hand as they walk to church?
I've personally never heard of an illiterate 12 year old learning to read so well in a month. But I could be wrong about that. It just seemed like another breezy event that tidied up the corners a bit too conveniently.
All right, back to things I liked.
I really cracked up when Doug started referring to himself in the 3rd person as a reaction to Principal Peattie's weird habit of doing this. It was funny.
"...if I ever meet Percy Bysshe Shelley walking down the streets of Marysville, I'm going to punch him right in the face."
Generally, I just really liked Doug a lot. He was funny and interesting and enjoyable to spend 360 pages with.
I have read through to the part after the dad gets fired and they move to the small town.
Okay, the dad is horrible. I certainly feel sorry for Doug. And I'm wondering what is up with mom...so far she is almost not there. Doug seems to sort of like her, but I don't think they have really interacted at all. And I miss Holling. His little bit at the start of the story was nice, but now Doug is all alone. Amazingly, I'm not feeling too depressed about it - probably because Doug is kind of funny? I hope something good happens soon. This beginning chunk is a bit one note: Dad is Bad. And so is brother. But after my experience reading Wednesday Wars, I feel certain things will start to get better for Doug, at least in part.