You can't blend in when you were born to stand out. My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.
Review:
Wonder is a beautifully simple story about ten-year-old August Pullman who was born with a facial abnormality. The book follows August and all of the people around him whose lives he touches including new-found best friend, his sister, his sister's new boyfriend and many others. Wonder is one of those books that I think everyone should read - it plays with the idea that people can be cruel and that not everybody is accepting towards things that they don't necessarily understand - whether that is children or grown adults.
I really loved the different point of views. Before going into the book I thought that it would be from only Auggie's point of view but his story was narrated through a variety of different characters. Reading through Auggie's friends and family gives the reader a break from reading as Auggie, which can be difficult at times because you really get to see just how many people are uncomfortable around him which can get overwhelming, especially when you realise that you definitely relate more to the view of the outsiders. Reading from Auggie's sister's point of view really broke my heart because you get to see just how much her brother affects her life, from having to make sure that her friends aren't uncomfortable around him and fighting for her parent's attention, it's something that she can't make about herself although she desperately needs to be selfish sometimes. I often grow weary of books that don't have good familial representation, especially in diverse books, so if you're worried that Wonder is another one of those books that suddenly forgets all about the fact that teenagers and ten-year-olds have parents, then you can breathe a sigh of relief.
Auggie can be immature at times, he often wants to be babied and even at ten years old he wants to be tucked into bed by his parents every night - but that's not shocking given that he's spent half of his life being fussed over by his parents. August goes through a change throughout the book, developing from someone who maybe feels a little sorry for himself to someone who knows that's he's different on the outside but he's still a normal boy capable of making normal decisions. He also learns that sometimes people will be rude and cruel and run away scared but that's only because they're less of a person that he is. It truly is a beautiful transition.
So, maybe Wonder isn't the best literature in the world. Maybe it's not life-altering and it definitely won't change the world but it is a glimmer of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Wonder is a sweet, funny, touching read and it is definitely one that will make you laugh, cry and even angry at times. Wonder is absolutely stunning.
Quote: "I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives."
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