Kirkus- Style Review of The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
Faced with an overwhelmingly painful situation that she cannot accept, seventh-grader Suzy Swanson, retreats into a world of silence. There in her grief and guilt, she comes up with a hypothesis to explain the unexplainable.
Benjamin has written an
emotional, insightful story, allowing you to intimately know and
empathize with the main character. Her name is Suzy and she has
always been interested in facts that most people aren't interested
in. She is just being herself but this makes her "odd" to
her peers. Her best friend Franny Jackson never minded though- until
middle school when she starts to be interested in typical middle
school girl things like her clothes, hair and boys, things that Suzy
gives no thought to. Franny finds new like-minded friends and Suzy
gets left behind. Suzy tries to fit in but when she does the
situation only gets worse; she is ostracized and finds herself
socially isolated. In an attempt to bring her friend back to her,
Suzy does something she deeply regrets. Before she can make this
awful thing right, Franny drowns. Suzy's scientific mind wants to
know how it happened, but Suzy's mom tells her that, "sometimes
things just happen." Suzy can not accept this answer. Grief and
guilt haunt her and she thinks, "Sometimes you want things to
change so badly, you can't even stand to be in the same room with the
way things actually are." She retreats into silence and
formulates a hypothesis about how Franny may have died. Because of
the depth of her unacceptance ("Things had ended between me and
Franny in the worst way. if I'd known, I'd have said sorry for the
way things happened. I'd have at least said goodbye. But a person
doesn't always know the difference between a new beginning and a
forever sort of ending. Now it was too late to fix any of it. But
maybe I could still do something.") she becomes increasingly
obsessed with proving her hypothesis. This is what keeps the reader
captivated. Will she get a chance to pursue her hypothesis or will
she find acceptance? Tension builds as the reader realizes Suzi can't
go on like this. How will this end for her? The book is cleverly
organized into seven parts - the parts of the scientific method - but
Suzy's problem is not one that can be solved scientifically. This is
an often painful and deeply touching story that addresses serious
issues like lost friendship, social isolation, regret, being
"different," adolescent cruelty, death and finally
acceptance and hope. There is an added bonus of amazing true
scientific facts, especially about jellyfish.
Ali Benjamin has written
a poignant story that speaks to all humanity, because at some point
we all have faced, or will face, a situation that has no acceptable
explanation. Then we realize, like Suzy has to, that, "sometimes
things just happen." Readers will root for Suzy to find
acceptance and heal. The message of the book is so important for all
of us; sometimes there just isn't a happy ending, but... maybe there
can be a new beginning.
Professional tone, wonderful descriptions, and lots of sincerity. Great review, albeit a bit lengthy. 4.75 out of 5 points.
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