Invisibooks for Invisipeeps discussion

So, what did everyone think? Feel free to ask your own questions!

I enjoyed it! Did anyone see the movie? I didn't, but I was curious if they stuck to the story or veered off track.

I haven't seen the movie.

I thought it was okay, so I gave it two stars accordingly. It was well-written and easy to read, but the choice of narrator sort of threw me. It felt like a weird romance novel, but told from the kid's perspective which was awkward. Also, it was weird that they had to keep demonizing the girl who turned him in. Oh, she is buying expensive dogs, but that isn't enough, now she is on drugs.

Overall, it wasn't a bad read. I'd probably read more of this author's work.

I agree with you about the girl who sold out Frank. I don't even know why that had to happen, why couldn't it just have been left at Henry's note to his Dad being found a lot earlier than he planned on.

Oh, guys, I forgot I did a blog post about it when I finished it. Here's what I had for that.

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This is a really quick read. Most of the "real time" in the book covers six days around Labor Day, sometime in the 1980s. There's also plenty of flashbacks and at the end, flashes forward. Since I've seen so many of the movie commercials, in my head, I could only picture Kate Winslet as Adele. Which is fine, she seems like a good fit.

A few observations - the story seems to focus on sex and body parts an awful lot. Then I realized, yes, the narrator is 13-year old Henry. Duh. I've never been a 13-year old boy, but as far as I can tell, Maynard does a pretty good job speaking in one's voice. The mother-son relationship is realistic, too. I imagine I would feel responsible for her happiness, too.

SPOILER ALERT: I figured the story would end in a bloodbath of some sort or another. I was pretty sure Frank would die tragically, or that even worse, Adele would. Or, that Henry would more directly sell Frank out. That Maynard didn't take those routes, I think those are good things. The ending is as happy as it could realistically be.

As a child of the 80s, the pop culture references made me smile. Actors dressed in raisin outfits singing on TV. Minivans with sliding doors being a new thing. Very nostalgic.

Some of the plotting seems a little too pat - the convict charms the one family in town with an emotionally fragile Mom who is home all the time, a Dad that lives elsewhere with his new family, and a house at the very end of a street surrounded by woods and not very visible from the neighbors? Incredible luck, that.

But Maynard is very good at dialogue. Not too many words, and distinct style. You get a real sense of Adele's character from how she speaks.

Final call: three stars

Labor Day is a pretty classic coming-of-age story, and there's definitely a lot worse fiction out there you could be sticking your nose into. Just don't expect instant gratification for the leads; they wait and wait for their resolution.

http://www.roadmindwind.com/2014/02/l...