Day: July 11, 2022

made by White Mountain ~ artist unknown ~ 1,000 pieces

This brand seems to be very popular, but it’s one I’d never done before. Older puzzle (made in 2005) I found at a thrift store. Nothing missing! That always seems like a bonus, with a thrift store puzzle. Felt like a visual education, putting this one together. Odd that the top of the image (where the title was on the original picture) is cut off- tail of an f visible just above a pinecone. No mention of the artist on the box- a shame, all those lovely tiny portraits of trees and I can’t give credit to who painted them.

a thrift store find

by Jonathan Evison

Don’t remember how this one came to my attention. Another audiobook to fill space in my head while I’m doing chores- but for a while there I thought I’d made a mistake. Put off by the frequent use of the f-word. And some of the crude humor- not by the main character, but one or two of his um, negatively opinionated friends. I was going to stop before even through the first cd, but kept listening, and somehow this started to grow on me. In the end I was glad I heard the whole thing, it gets much better further on and I even liked the ending. I appreciated what it was trying to say. But I also get why lots of people have protested this book, because yeah, it made me uncomfortable at several points.

Story (apparently semi-autobiographical) is about a half-latino guy from a poor neighborhood in Washington State. (This made the environs of the novel very familiar to me, but also so very different- a whole other side of the place I knew, a reverse reality I was never very aware of). Mike Muñoz is 22 but still lives with his mother, his older mentally disabled brother, and a tenant who at first lives in the backyard shed but then moves into the house. They’re always struggling to make ends meet. Mike has a job with a landscaping crew, he’s proud of making very tidy clean edges and aspires to be a topiary artist. Gets sick of the low pay and degrading way clients treat him- looses his job after refusing to clean up after someone’s dog. Drifts around looking for new employment, nothing works out. One old acquaintance has a big scheme with no real plan. Then an old high school friend ropes him into preparing properties for resale in a wealthy neighborhood, and he starts rubbing shoulders with different kind of folks- but pretty soon realizes he doesn’t like where that’s going.

And there’s the annoyance that this old high school friend won’t admit to something that happened when they were kids. This is what people are all upset about. There’s a scene from the past mentioned briefly in the book (and referred to a few times afterwards in the narrative) where Mike and the other guy, as ten-year-old kids, handled each other’s privates. No it was not actually pedophilia (as some people are saying in negative reviews). The disturbing thing is that Mike wants to discuss what happened in the past, but the other guy won’t admit it even occurred. Meanwhile, Mike is halfheartedly trying to impress a girl he admires, and finds stress relief at the library. I loved reading about the books he was reading. And his growing friendship with the substitute library guy Andrew, who’s also an activist in his spare time.

Mike and Andrew gradually become more than friends, and by the end of the book he realizes what he’d been denying to himself all along- he’s gay. His mother knew, apparently, his friends are less shocked than he’d expected. Yes there’s a scene where Mike finally spends the night at Andrew’s house, it stops short of being too detailed about their intimacy. No graphic descriptions. You’re mostly aware that Mike has come to realize something about himself, has found a place where he feels both respected and encouraged, has found someone he admires and enjoys being around- in spite of Andrew’s flaws. I felt this was a very honest portrayal about someone’s ordinary life that went through a bunch of crap and then started to become something better.

By the end of the book, Mike has gone from working for barely minimum wage, to feeling walked all over by rich people, to being in his own little company and actually getting to sculpt hedges in people’s front yards. Having appreciation for the good work he does, expanding his artistic talent, finding a better understanding with his family too. I admit there’s plenty of incidents in this book that made me cringe, others had me laughing out loud. I really could have done without all the f-words personally. But I found the musings on social inequalities, environmentalism and the like rather refreshing- he points out so many times that things like eating organic don’t matter to the poor, if they can just barely afford to eat a sandwich at all. There’s more, but I have to stop writing or this post will get way too long.

It’s really unfortunate that this book has the exact same title as a middle-grade Gary Paulsen novel (which has no objectionable content).

Audiobook, voice is P.J. Ochlan, 8.5 hours listening time. Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
320 pages, 2018

DISCLAIMER:

All books reviewed on this site are owned by me, or borrowed from the public library. Exceptions are a very occasional review copy sent to me by a publisher or author, as noted. Receiving a book does not influence my opinion or evaluation of it

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