One-in-a-Million Boy is heartwarming, quirky, charming, unputdownable!
The One in a Million Boy by Monica Wood
Genre: General Fiction
Published 2016, 416 pages
What a delightful, beautiful, surprise of a story!
THE PLOT
A bright, socially awkward boy helps out a 104 year old lady. (How many young boys do you know who would actually do this? If you know one, he's a gem!) As he helps her with yard work and errands, a very unexpected friendship develops between these two lonely people.
I loved feisty Ona, the 104 year old lady who needed just a little help. I felt for the heartbroken mom, I sympathized with the clueless but trying-hard dad, and I was enchanted by the boy. I often feel like stories about broken relationships try too hard and descend into cliches. I didn't feel that in this book for one moment. It felt true from beginning to end.
“...imagining her name in a record book. All those demure round letters in the first name, followed by the stalky surprise of the surname. Ona Vitkus.”
MY THOUGHTS
It's the best kind of writing, the kind that causes you to pause and reread a passage - not because you didn't understand it, but because you did, and it speaks to you very clearly.
“You know, one meets so many people, the years pass and pass, but there are certain times, certain people— . . . They take up room. So much room. I was married to Howard for twenty-eight years and yet he made only a piddling dent in my memory. A little nick. But certain others, they move in and make themselves at home and start flapping their arms in the story you make of your life. They have a wingspan. . . .”
Although this isn't a very detailed plot or review, trust me when I say you'll like this book more when you don't know exactly what it's about and have no expectations. Just go along for the ride (and keep a tissue handy). I highly recommend The One in a Million Boy to book clubs or to anyone who enjoys a well written story about love, loss, unlikely friendships, and how people can rise above their circumstances.
