Okay for Now

MORE CRYING FOREVER, JFC

I wasn't sure what it meant that this was in the same “world” as The Wednesday Wars, since it's not like the Wednesday Wars was sci-fi or anything, but the protagonist of this was a minor character in the Wednesday Wars whose family moved to another town, so there aren't any other overlaps with The Wednesday Wars. Just FYI.

Anyway this book had about a million plot elements that would have been horrible cliches in the hands of a lesser author (abusive father, wise old librarian who teaches Doug about art, wise old rich man who teaches Doug to play horseshoes, grumpy rich lady who turns out to have a heart of gold, traumatized Vietnam vet older brother, ETC) but they're in the hands of a great author and they will just make you cry for sadness and then for the beauty of the human existence and then maybe for sadness a little bit more. Also it's funny? Anyway you should read it.