The Thing about Jellyfish (National Book Award Finalist)

by Ali Benjamin

[nannah]

Wow, this is probably the first really good book I've picked up in a long, long while. The style and way of storytelling reminds me of Patrick Ness--and whoever knows me knows I absolutely adorePatrick Ness, so this is high praise indeed.

Book content warnings:
drowning
child death

After her (former) best friend drowns, twelve-year-old Suzanne "Zu" is determined to prove that she died due to the sting of a Irukandji jellyfish.

That's really the barest way to describe the novel, because this is really an exploration of child grief, isolation (and self-isolation) in youth, and a child's way of explaining the world, life, and death.

I wish we could have had confirmation that Zu was autistic, though, because as an autistic person reading this book, I was 100% sure she was like me. Growing up, Zu's problems were my problems, and her experiences were achingly similar to my own. But even without this confirmation, her character development and the way she's written is just so well done. I'd give anything for more books with characters like her.

I'm also touched that Zu's brother is LGBT with a boyfriend. Usually with side characters/brothers/best friends who are gay, it's just an add-in to grab some LGBT readers, and I just roll my eyes. But there's something different here, I don't know. There's something about how Zu's brother and his boyfriend are the most supportive characters; there's something about how damn healthy the relationship between her brother and his boyfriend is. It's written with such care and love that I don't mind it's a side relationship. I'm touched that it was included. That . . . never happens!

Anyway, this book taught me many things about life, grief, and jellyfish. I feel like I want to study jellyfish now! In any case, I'm definitely going to look up how I can somehow help jellyfish from taking over the seas. Or maybe get a poster of jellyfish to remind me that, yes, jellyfish are strong. They're forever. And that's pretty damn inspiring.