Wonder
Ratings383
Average rating4.2
I don't know if I expected too much, but I felt dissapointed at the end. Okay, sometimes it was great, some things are undesctiptables, but the taste it left in my mouth wasn't so magnificent
Summary: This novel is told through the perspectives of several different characters. It centers on a young boy named August Pullman who has had a lot of health complications due to a cranio-facial abnormality. For his whole life, he has been homeschooled, but now, he is about to start sixth grade in a public middle school. Throughout the book, August talks about the struggles he has with fitting in at school, and his friends and family also offer their insights and feelings about their interactions with Auggie.
I would've never expected a coming of age story about fifth graders to be filled with so many truths about the joys and hardships of living - of friendships, character, love, and loss. That it's more meaningful to be someone who ‘carries up hearts' than to be “cool.” Adults need reminding of this often, too.
Great hopeful book overall. I get that kindness is seen as enough in a middle grade book but maybe in real life it's not. However, this book fits into its purpose
Please allow me a minute to complain about something minor that has nothing to do with this wonderful book.
I recently moved, and that means I got myself two shiny new library cards - for my town, which has a teensy little library, and the somewhat larger city next door, which has a much better selection. The town library had an e-book version of this, which I downloaded before I discovered that their non-Libby, non-Hoopla app is only compatible with a select number of Kindle devices, none of which are the Kindle device I have (Paperwhite 2014 babyyyyyyy). So. I read Wonder exclusively on my phone, which is obnoxious.
Anyway. My friend Bina, who is a fifth grade teacher, “recommended” this to me several years ago, despite having not read it herself, but she said her coworkers loved it. So now I can recommend it back to her! This was really sweet story, and I'm glad I finally got around to it.
«Todo el mundo debería recibir una ovación del público puesto en pie al menos una vez en su vida, porque todos vencemos al mundo». Auggie.
I loved this book. Auggie is such a loveable character. He's so funny! That being said, I gave teh book only four stars because of it being somewhat triggering for me at times. I'm disabeld myself and honestly was a little jealous of Auggie at times. I'm not sure I can put my finger to it, but, I felt jealous of all the people sticking by Auggie in the end and the school's totally welcoming attitude. At the same time, Via's attitude, while very realistic, was also a bit triggering.
Overall though, I loved the multiple viewpoints. I liked the character development, for example with Summer and Jack.
[b:Wonder 11387515 Wonder R.J. Palacio https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545695751l/11387515.SY75.jpg 16319487]August is Officially my favorite month. After reading this I can honestly say that this will be the easiest 315 pages you will ever read and you will love every page. I picked this up because one of my favorite authors had moved it up on her kindle and it inspired me to give it a go. Full disclosure I did watch the movie first this time around and don't regret it shockingly. Wonder is about a boy August Pullman who is registered into the 5th grade at Beecher Prep. You would think that wouldn't be an issue, wrong Auggie was born with a facial that makes life and friendships much harder. He was home schooled up until this point and the adventure of 5th grade is a scary one for August. Firstly, what I loved most is that it touches on real 5th grade behavior. August is faced with real genuine hardships and real friendships in the case of Jack and Summer, and real bullies in Henry and Julian. I loved how each chapter had its own voice and it gave the reader a real well-rounded understanding of who August is. I also enjoyed the family unit that he was given. It made me appreciate that I am very lucky to have a solid family unit. I think that after reading this you will either relive your grade school bullying or you will come out feeling kind and up lifting to those around you. If it is the first out come, I am sorry you had to experience that if it is the second then I suggest you pass this book on to someone who can use it. I am a big believer in paying it forward and everyone needs to feel the Wonder of this book.
It's a beautiful story and it makes you feel all sorts of things. You laugh, you cry, you get proud... Yet, the story is told in a very-easy-to-read format. It flows very well and it's not difficult to just keep telling yourself, “Just one more page” while not noticing how far you've gone.
2.5 stars
I'm... not a fan of this one. I see the reason for the hype (I think), but this book isn't my kind of thing.
Yeah, it flows well and I was able to read through it quickly in one morning. It can be considered heart-warming and perhaps make some change their thinking. I'm just not sure what all the crazy hype is about.
I felt like the story started and ended with no change, nothing new. I wish there had been some consequences for the bullying. I wish the ending had been different because it felt focused on the crowd, the neurotypicals, and not Auggie. Why is he getting an award for kindness? Why is any of it happening except for everyone else to feel better about themselves?
It didn't feel like a YA adult, but a book aimed for 10-12 year olds, the characters are not fully-fleshed but more like archetypes. Still a great book for kids, about the importance of kindness, bravery and acceptance. The book is touching, I just had a problem with the whole “life balances the good with the bad” kind of message, like sure you're poor but you have friends, or sure you're disfigured, but you have a great family. Like that's not how life actually is. But anyway, children's book, will not read too much into it.
hmm...might be a 4.5, but going to leave it at 4 for now. Mostly because I thought the ending kinda fell apart there was also the whole thing with the dog, but we'll leave that alone. You know that saying, "as long as the dog/cat/goldfish/etc. lives..."? Yeah, that's me . I mean, I'm all for happy endings and rainbows and moonbeams and the like, but this felt a little too sugary. The Star Wars themes played, good guys won, the kid who avoided having his picture taken like it was the plague suddenly is front and center, the semi-bad guys were redeemed to became good guys and the un-redeemed (and his parents) slunk away to another school never to scowl at the kind children of Beecher Prep again. Oh and what school administrator asks a 11 year old, without either the parents present or having talked to them first, if he wants to press charges? He's 11. yeah. No.
Up to the 3 days in nature portion, I did enjoy the story. I particularly liked Olivia as narrator, talking about how she had always and would always live in Auggie's shadow and being ok with it even when she wasn't.
I loved this book. I read it when I was in 4th grade and love it, and then last year we had to read it for an English assignment, and I started remembering how much I love the book. I also saw the movie, but it was, obviously, missing stuff from the book, so I didn't like it as much. My favourite character is Via because she is kind of sassy and an introvert who I can relate to a lot.
Beautifully written. This is my first time leaving a review on Goodreads, and I want to give the author a big thumbs up for delivering such a compelling and thought provoking work. I especially love the dynamics between all these characters, peering into the perspectives of different individuals is refreshing and makes me emphasize with them. My only regret is not having read this book back in middle school.
Let's start with the good: I thought that Wonder was an amazing and nuanced view of the social intricacies from late elementary school to early high school. By introducing multiple perspectives, RJ Palacio has written one of the most insightful pieces about how people inadvertently become bullies, alienate their friends or switch social groups. It rang very true, and more informed than a lot of the non-fiction references about bullying.
I also liked having a book about someone with a craniofacial anomaly. Too often disability characters in YA are completely sanitized: “normal person in a wheelchair!” style. Auggie was a great and honest portrayal of a kid with Treacher Collins. I know many kids like Auggie in real life, and I think this is the first book that they get about them. I liked that she pulled no punches in describing his surgeries, and his difficulty eating and articulating and also no punches in giving him a personality that went beyond his disability with his love for Star Wars, sense of humor and insight into people's ways of thinking.
But, I didn't love it. Perhaps because I've spent a lot of time with kids with craniofacial anomalies, it didn't have the same newness to me as to a lot of other readers. Or because, as a professional geneticist, I got really distracted by the fact that he has biallelic TCOF1 mutations, or that he has both a new, previously unknown recessive form of Treacher Collins and OAV spectrum. (I'm not sure in what universe someone would make a diagnosis of OAVS, a clinical diagnosis, in a kid with molecularly confirmed TCS, who doesn't have any facial asymmetry, but.) Or that they didn't use the words “Treacher Collins” in the whole book? I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again: authors who want a geneticist consultant, I'm for hire! Pay me in books.
But honestly, I had two other huge concerns: the first is Auggie winning the community service award at the end. I found this super frustrating and shallow compared to the more nuanced take in the rest of the book. Auggie didn't do any community service just by existing. The “point” of people with disabilities is not to be a fable for children without disabilities to learn from. He's an actual human being who should actually do some community service to get a community service award. That dehumanization really undermined a huge portion of the book for me, and made me feel hesitant to recommend it to children with disabilities.
My other concern is unfair for a book review, but stick with me: they chose a child without a craniofacial anomaly to portray Auggie in the movie? In a world that has thousands of actual children with craniofacial anomalies, who will never ever have a chance to play a protagonist in basically any other movie, and they took a typical kid and put him in disability drag? Overall, that choice, combined with the ending of the book made me really concerned that RJ Palacio doesn't really believe that atypical children are human beings with their own personhood and reason for being, rather than a tool for her to write moralistic novels.
A touching story about a little boy facing more than just starting a new school.
Sweet story, but I think I was expecting something more powerful.
ETA: Changed my rating to 2 stars (2.5 really), because it was leaning more towards “It was ok” than “I liked it”. Tough call.
5 stars this book was so sweet and wonderful! And I cried so much -__- I definitely recommend it :)
I loved this story so much! I cried so many times! This is a must read for everyone!