The Other Normals

by Ned Vizzini

[clementine]

Okay, so the thing is that even though I do have genres that I particularly enjoy, I am perfectly capable of branching outside of those genres and genuinely liking books that I normally wouldn't read. This wasn't one of those books, and it has nothing to do with the genre, or even the subject matter, and everything to do with the fact that it just wasn't well-written.

This book was primarily a comedic coming of age story with fantasy elements. This is not my normal thing, but if it's done well, that's fine, I will give credit where credit is due. But I feel like with fantasy you can't half-ass it. You have to be detailed. You have to explain. You have to show, not tell. With this book, the world was very barebones. Vizzini told, and he just didn't develop the world enough. The characters and their banter took precedence over the fantasy setting.

I feel like this would be a good book for a younger demographic. It's just a bit too simple and juvenile for the YA market. I think it has enough to enchant younger readers, but when you're older, more critical, and looking for something that has grown with your intelligence and maturity, this book just does not cut it. It's too bad, because the premise of the multiverses and everything was interesting, and the summer camp setting was promising. It just fell very, very flat, and were it not for the swearing, I would have just assumed it was filed in the wrong section at Chapters.