Six Impossible Things

Six Impossible facts about me:

✔ not to want to read an Aussie book;
✔ not to love a witty main character;
✔ not to enjoy sarcasm and good humour;
✔ not to love young love stories that make me smile laugh until my cheeks hurt;
✔ not to LOVE this story;
✔ not to give a big thanks to my book fairy for bringing this piece of joy into my life;
✔ not to realize that this is the seventh item on my list.

Dan put the cute into cuteness and if I have to define in one word the experience of reading this book I would say: delightful.

“I saw Estelle for the first time that day.
She stopped outside our place and stared into the bare branches of the footpath plane tree. First checking there was no one nearby she turned slowly around and around, framing her view of the twig-snaggled sky with a hand held to her eye.
Then she walked into the house next door, half dizzy, smiling, and carrying my heart. There’s this sky she likes.”

The main character, Dan, is one lovely young man that had to grow up faster than he could blink or say “impossible”. One day his life was perfect, the other day there was only chaos surrounding him – the family business broke, the father gay, the mother not coping, the new school syndrome getting to him, the next-door-girl crush impossible, making friends a distant dream.. and so on. All he wanted was to make everything right, to be good, but he was just a boy with a list of 6 impossible things.

If you think that this book is about him getting the things he wants (oh boy, you’re such a genius) yes you are right. If you think (like my husband) that they are not really as impossible as Dan thinks, you are ‘geniously’ right again.. But my review is not about praising your cleverness (which of course I deeply admire) so I’ll tell you what you don’t know:

#1 This book is hilarious – you will spend more time laughing and cheering for Dan than thinking about his problems and how he will get out of them.

#2 Dan is not your average teen boy.. Yes he has issues, and he has lots of questions and no one available to give him answers, but what I liked more about him was the fact that he really tried to get his own answers – it was more like a trial-and-error kind of method that got him more into trouble than out of it, but it made him grow up through the story all on his own.

#3 You will love all the characters. One moment they are just strangers peeking at you through the lines, and then you will get so attached to them that you will want them all to be part of your life. They are young, they are full of life, they do silly things, they are great friends finding each other when they least expect it, and together you will have the time of your life..

#4 Parents are an interesting topic in this story – we get to know various types of parents and they deliver a great amount of humor. Also the kids are showing what I always say: don’t let your kids do something and they will always find a way to go around your restrictions. I know this because I was a kid (we’ve all been) and I usually knew how to handle my parents such that I got what I wanted (no matter if they liked it or not).

#5 Dan and Estelle are such a lovely young couple – they will remind you of your first love, of all that clumsiness, of the nights spent thinking “does (s)he like me, does (s)he not”, of the silly things you do when you’re in love for the very first time, when you don’t have any idea what love is, but your head spinning and your heart skipping a beat will tell you that you do.

#6 If you don’t read this book soon enough, there will be a day when you will finally do it and then you’ll think “Why in the world didn’t I read it sooner?”

“I love you big time”

Now the tricky question: would I forgive the snooping around?

The rational part of me says No – No offence, I love Dan (in an I-want-to-adopt-him kind of way) but snooping in the attic is probably how Edward Cullen started as a kid and where did this get him? Let’s hear you!..Come on, don’t get shy on me!.. Yes, 100 years later watching his girlfriend sleep at night which back then I found kind of cute, damn it, now it totally creeps me out.

The younger self of me would probably say Yes, because you know how dumb you get when you are young and in love for the first time and you dream of your knight in shining armor. Dan has a word for it, in fact several words: “Lovesick, sick at heart, sick with longing, sick of feeling confused, jealous and hopless”… Did I hear a bell ringing or is it Christmas yet?
And I don’t even need to mention that note he left. *sigh* Yes, I understand, but that doesn’t mean it is not still wrong.

All in one, this was an amazing read, I loved every word of it and from time to time I got to forget how young Dan really was because he was smart for a kid and his sharply witty tone made the reading experience even better.

Rating: 5 shiny stars from the midnight sky and a litlle moon 🙂