Wonder

Synopsis

August "Auggie" Pullman is, in reality, an extraordinary boy. In his opinion, he is an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. To the rest of the world, he is just an extraordinary face.

He was born with a "facial difference." In some ways, it's a miracle he is still alive. Years of surgeries - to help him breathe, to help him eat, to help him see, hear, and talk - kept him home from an ordinary school. And he's enjoyed his homeschooling. It keeps him away from the stares, the tough questions, even the screams.

After all, his face is not ordinary.

But when fifth grade rolls around, his parents think that it is time for that big change. It may be Auggie's first year of public school, but it's also everyone's first year of middle school. Everyone will be the new kid, leading to a smoother transition for Auggie.

But, as Auggie will quickly come to know, the transition is anything but smooth ...

Analysis

I can't even begin to describe the absolute joy I experienced while reading this novel. For one thing, it scores points in creativity. The very idea for the story is unique. I've read a hundred books about kids with special needs, kids who have been rejected by their "ordinary" peers. Never before have I read something like this. Auggie, in all respects for basic life, is completely fine. He can walk, talk, eat, and see. He doesn't actually have any special needs. His face is simply (though very noticeably) different. Palacio picked a real but little-known genetic disorder (and by extension, conflict) for her character. The plot, the characters, the driving point of the novel are extremely unique.

All the more can be said of the wholesomeness of the novel. The way Palacio paints the picture of the Pullman family is simply beautiful. They don't get everything right, and they are certainly not perfect, but they love one another sacrificially. And Palacio plainly points out the goodness of a family like that. Additionally, this book was the first time in a long time that I read of a real, honest-to-goodness dad. Auggie's dad is very real and very good. He's not a blown-up hero making outrageous and otherworldly sacrifices for his family, but neither is he letting his wife rule the household and neglecting his responsibility as the head of the house (check out Ephesians 5:22–33 to see what I mean). He is a truly healthy father figure for Auggie, and one that I wish all characters — and pray all children — could have. Perhaps most notably, however, is the point and purpose of the entire story, as we will see in significance.

When it comes to the language of the story, Wonder deserves a round of applause. Palacio weaves the perspectives of multiple characters into the book, changing from Auggie's point of view to the perspective of quite a number of other characters. Somehow, it is not blocky or sudden, but seamless and smooth. You get the voice of other characters exactly when you need it, effortlessly showing the importance of others in Auggie's story. If nothing else, readers should come away from Wonder experiencing the importance of several perspectives in an event. Wonder is far from one-sided. And using this changing of perspectives, Palacio illustrates the reality of her characters. She shows the raw and brutally honest motivations and actions of real people through fictional characters. They are all unique, honest, and authentic. They all have different voices. They all have different thoughts. They are all different people. This lends itself to the depth and development of the story. Palacio masterfully and quietly transforms the characters, Auggie and Jack Will in particular. The transformation is so quiet and easy that you hardly realize how much has changed until it slaps you in the face. The author's pacing is impeccable, even when jumping between perspectives or retelling an event from someone else's view.

Lastly, the significance is both beautiful and compelling. Not only did this book create a lasting and rippling effect when it was first published in 2012, but it was also turned into an award-winning movie in 2017. (Far be it from me to measure a book's worth by its movie adaptation, of course, but we must recognize that it was big enough to catch a movie-maker's attention. wink) The "Choose Kind" movement following the success of both book and movie is intense. But when I unpack the underlying moral to the story, I find something that is heartwarming in the least and impactful at the most. From a conservative Christian perspective, the moral only goes so far on the empty "we can change ourselves to make a better world" campaign. Kindness, the whole point of the story, is never true kindness without Christ. As they stand on their own, the intention of the author and the application she draws out are important and insightful. In my post-reading meditation, considering human kindness with the mercy of Christ inspired me to hold a higher standard to my own kindness. Wonder is certainly a book that shouldn't be forgotten in the years to come.

Rating

I happily award Wonder four bookwyrm bingos!