

How can I explain how much I love this book? While reading it I spun it out as slowly as possible so that I didn't finish it within one day although I could have. It contained everything I love about speculative fiction - lovable characters, intelligence, a slightly self-effacing narrator, young kids growing up at the same time that I did with all the schoolyard and family politics, small-town America (Canada), and a coming-of-age story told without preaching. Imagine speculative Archie comics/Riverdale the way the tale was supposed to be told. Imagine Stranger Things without so many strange/unrealistic things. Imagine the Mentalist as a young boy. Imagine a regular kid growing up in the 80s/90s with that mad uncle and just one or two ride-or-die friends. If I could live in the world created by this book forever, I would. If I could read it for the first time a hundred times over, I would.
How can I explain how much I love this book? While reading it I spun it out as slowly as possible so that I didn't finish it within one day although I could have. It contained everything I love about speculative fiction - lovable characters, intelligence, a slightly self-effacing narrator, young kids growing up at the same time that I did with all the schoolyard and family politics, small-town America (Canada), and a coming-of-age story told without preaching. Imagine speculative Archie comics/Riverdale the way the tale was supposed to be told. Imagine Stranger Things without so many strange/unrealistic things. Imagine the Mentalist as a young boy. Imagine a regular kid growing up in the 80s/90s with that mad uncle and just one or two ride-or-die friends. If I could live in the world created by this book forever, I would. If I could read it for the first time a hundred times over, I would.