Kind of melodramatic, and the dialogue is outdated even for the 90s. Still, this is a very well-meaning effort at depicting mental health issues/PTSD. Of course, the character with the issues is worth saving because he is a gifted young man, seen through the eyes of a smitten female protagonist. I would have liked to read about a protagonist who narrates their own story, a female lead who has serious issues of her own, or a mentally ill person who is worthy of help even if they aren't especially gifted. When this book was written, it was apparently a bit too soon to subvert all those tropes in one novel. Maybe it still is. ( )

3.5 stars

When Ginny and her family move across the country when Ginny is in grade 12, she does not want to go, and is lonely. She becomes friends with her neighbour, Caulder. There is an odd boy at school, Smitty, who doesn’t talk. None of the kids have ever known him to talk. Not only that, he doesn’t show emotion or any kind of reaction to anything. He is, however, very smart. Ginny is a bit reluctant, but Caulder insists on introducing her to Smitty. The premise behind them visiting is that Ginny needs help with math (she really does!), and Smitty is able to help by showing her how to figure it out on paper. Caulder and Ginny eventually consider themselves “friends” with Smitty, but something soon goes wrong…

I liked this. Ginny and Caulder frustrated me at times when (I felt that) they pushed Smitty too hard or just couldn’t seem to understand why he was having trouble, but I guess – teenagers? And I sometimes wondered what the psychologist was thinking, but what do I know!? I did love the interactions between Ginny and her brothers, though. The last bit of the book picked up a bit with a confrontation, but it wasn’t quite enough to bring my rating up to 4 stars. 3.5 stars is still good for me, though. I liked it. ( )

00002801

From opening paragraph to last sentence, mesmerizing. ( )

I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either.

_The Only Alien on the Planet_ was recommended to me when a friend learned that I was reading _The Perks of Being a Wallflower_. Sadly, I didn't find OAP to be as good a book. The characters were somewhat irksome and frankly didn't sound like teenagers - even teens circa 1995. While the reactions of the traumatized character were realistic, the treatment laid out was unethical in the extreme and the bottom line is that the story didn't really hold together. That being said, I am sure that there is an audience for this book. Just not my cup of tea. ( )