“If Hollis was a big kid, I was the little adult, the child who, at three, would sit at the table during grown-up discussions about literature and color my coloring books, not making a peep. Who learned to entertain myself at a very early age, who was obsessive about school and grades from kindergarten, becaus academia was the one thing that always got my parent’s attention.”

When your parents, both academics and well-known in their fields, name you after the poet Auden, chances are you are going to be expected to succeed in school. Eighteen-year-old Auden has done just that. She’s lived up to her parent’s expectations by being an excellent student and is now on her way to a promising college experience. Unfortunately, the one thing Auden hasn’t excelled at is social interactions.

She’s been so busy with schoolwork that she’s missed out on sleepovers, trips to the mall with friends, going to dances and dating but her last summer before college she’ll get the chance to catch up on having some fun. Auden’s dad is now living in a small beach town and has invited Auden to visit and get to know his new wife better and introduce her to her new little sister. Auden can’t imagine having a good time visiting with Heidi and a new baby but she’s also having a hard time being around her mom so she packs her bags and heads out to her dad’s.

Once in the beach town she’ll find that a lot of her preconceived notions about her dad, his new wife and the people that live in the beach town were just wrong. Her dad is so focused on his writing, or at least seems to be, he often neglects his family. Heidi is actually not the twit she was expecting but a business woman in her own right who is just trying her best to build a relationship with Auden. And, when Auden meets some of the local girls while she works at Heidi’s boutique she finds out that just because you enjoy shopping doesn’t mean you may not enjoy other things in life, like reading, school, etc.

Auden’s biggest risk though is learning to trust Eli. Eli has become the town’s loner after a tragic accident but somehow around Auden he feels like he can be with another person again. Together the two go out on midnight drives, experiencing life.

I thought the author did a good job of showing us how distant Auden was from most people and the transformation she goes through as the novel progresses. While I was hoping for a bit more of an emotional pull, I still cared enough to hope what happened to Auden and Eli in the end. It was a bit predictable but nevertheless a fun YA read.

Source: Library Copy

“My father’s escape was the yellow-painted metal mailbox on a post by the privet hedge. Almost every day it contained a letter for him from somewhere else — flimsy aerograms or heavy bond paper with official-looking seals. At the age of ten I learned that it was possible for me, too, to write to strangers and have them write back to me. Suddenly, I could see a way to widen my world by writing away to all the places where I imagined history happened and culture came from.”

A young Geraldine Brooks sees her life in a suburb of Sydney, Australia as lacking in adventure. She assumes that any place far away must be more exciting than her house on Bland street (yes, she really lived on a street named Bland) and when by chance her father encourages her to write to a girl in Australia, Geraldine finally gets a chance to “get out” of her small world.

Having the one pen pal though just sparks more interest for Geraldine in wanting to know what youths in other parts of the world are going through. As the memoir unfolds she recounts the changes in culture and atmosphere that are taking place Australia during the 60s and 70s and as she sets out to write letters seeking pen pals from the Middle East, France, and America she finds their differences are sometimes not all that great.

As the years pass by some of the letters become more infrequent and others simply stop, even Geraldine herself is increasingly becoming busier with her schoolwork and early career as a journalist, but for her these relationships meant something. Before she knows it, she is leading a fascinating career as a globe-trotting reporter and she finally gets to visit some of the faraway and dangerous places she often dreamt about. Her memories of her pen pals are with her as she sees some of these places and she decides to find her pen pals.

Of all her pen pals, it is a girl from America, Joannie, whose story was the most bittersweet to read about. Their friendship started over a love of Star Trek and was fueled by their idealism and rails against social injustices. Over the years though, Joannie transforms from a vibrant young woman to one suffering from depression and an eating disorder. I can’t help but think that although she enjoyed reconnecting with her friends it is this relationship that left a more lasting impression on Brooks.

It was lovely to see how some of her pen pals to whom she had stopped corresponding with for many years and finally tracked down where shocked to hear from their pen pal, not surprisingly, but though years had passed by they still seemed just like the boys and girls she communicated with so long ago. After the initial shock most of them were happy to share where life had taken them and reconnect with an old friend.

When I started the book I was expecting a lot of excerpts from letters to her pen pals but instead I got small but fascinating glimpse into an Australian childhood. Brooks is funny, charming and inquisitive. For anyone who loves travel, armchair or otherwise, and loves checking the mailbox for letters this is one not to miss.

Source: Library Copy