Wonder
by R. J. Palacio
๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐๐๐จ๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ ๐ก๐ค๐ค๐ ๐ก๐๐ ๐.
๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐ฎ๐ค๐ชโ๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐,
๐๐ฉโ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐.
SYNOPSIS
August Pullman, born with serious facial defect, had been kept at home for years. His mother, father, elder sister Via & the family dog Daisy, had been about the only characters to his small world. Well, at least until now.
Being enrolled at Beecher Prep as a 5th grader, he is forced to adapt to a normal lifestyle. Will his appearance stand in his way? Can he make friends despite? How will the other students react to him? And, will people truly be able to see past his facial features, to an ordinary boy, with an extraordinary mind & heart?
REVIEW
This is a heartwarming story of family, companionship, love & friendshipโa book of wonder.
I loved the perspectives we were given through each charactersโ POV. From the respective narratives, we were thus able to truly understand & relate to what each character was going through, leading to the consequential outcome of their actions.
Humans are messy. Humans make mistakes. Humans hurt each other. Humans also learn to be better. But sometimes in the aftermath of inflicted pain, even accidental or unintentional, the hardest thing of all can be the act of forgivenessโand in having the courage to do so, August found his place amongst people who truly cared for him & ones who were learning to as well.
Tho it may be due to my occasionally illogical love of villain backstories & tendency of seeking reasoning behind the worst of characters, I do wish we were given a chapter from Julianโs POV. Donโt get me wrong I didnโt like him the slightest bit, but thatโs all the more for me to want to understand WHY.
With simple words & a storyline that never strays far from our everyday life, the author brings forth the very concept we all thought we understoodโnever judge a person by his/her appearance. By putting readers into the very shoes of a young boy struggling to cross the invisible barrier his face has set for him, can we truly understand how hard it is to not judge & even more so not to be judged.
