Okay For Now,
his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this
one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy
spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging
assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers,
and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam.
When I first looked at the book because of battle of books I will admit that I was really reluctant to read it. I saw that it was historical fiction, and being the bad person I am I neglected it and allowed Natalie to read it first. I feel bad that I read this book because I wanted to make sure that I knew the answers to the questions in the competition. However, this book has now influenced me to give books a try, no matter the genre.
This book starts out with a boy, Doug, moving to a beat up town, with an abusive father and brother. His other brother is fighting in a war, while his kind mother tries to cope with everything that is happening. He meets Lil Spicer and follows her into the public library. He sees a painting of a bird, and begins to draw it.
Lil Spicer is his best friend. She has a spunky, don't-mess-with-me attitude and seems to have a solution for everything. She gets Doug his job at her father's deli as a delivery boy, which allows him to meet many of the people that influenced him in very special ways. She is eventually put into the hospital after getting a disease that only one in four people survive of. This had an interesting love story, as Lil and Doug were both amazing people.
Out of all the people that Doug delivered groceries to, Ms. Windermere. She was a very wise woman, and very passionate about everything. She loved Jane Eyre, and formed a play, with Lil as the main role and Doug as the background shrieker for an old woman in the play. She helped Doug discover things in him that he never knew before.
One of the best parts of this book, at least for me was it teaches you that you can't judge a book by its cover. That is the main point of this book. Doug's brother is accused of theft, causing the whole school to look down upon Doug thinking that he is the same as his brother. He has an extremely rude principal and gym teacher, but then, as you read ahead you find that they are having extreme sadness in their own lives, and you realize... they are not what you expected on the inside. You must always remember that you have to get to know them first before neglecting them, and this book is a perfect example.
This book makes you realize all the people that have helped you get this far, as you read through all the amazing people that helped Doug. His brother, Lucas, comes back with no legs, and almost blind but he pulls through. This book can really raise someone's hope if they are injured, or feel different from their community. However, many children these days do have abusive families, and some don't get happy endings like Doug did. This can influence families though, to encourage each other and go in the right direction. Also it reminds us we must never lose hope and remember the people who have sacrificed much for the good of others.
Every person can change. They just need the willpower to do it. This book proves that everyone can change. His father, abusive, but in the end understands what he has done and tries his best to make it all better. This book nearly brought me to tears, and Gary Schmidt wrote an amazing piece of literature and I think everyone should give this book a try.
Rating:
Five out of five stars
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