This book brings all the emotions.
“I’m not lying.” 😊–GDS
Okay for Now is a follow up to Wednesday Wars, but it can definitely be read as a standalone. It picks up with the story of Doug Swieteck (swai-uh-tek) and his dysfunctional family as they move to a new town called, in his words,“Stupid Marysville.”
The story is told from the POV of a junior high boy. Now before you swipe away, hear me out. He’s got an attitude. He’s got a punk older brother. He’s got a drunk dad and a mom whose smile is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. By the end of the book, you will adore Doug Swieteck. Give him a chance.
And even if you aren’t interested in a book from the juvenile section, you should be interested in reading Gary D. Schmidt. He is now, in my mind, of the same genius as Charles Dickens.
I know. That’s a hefty claim. But seriously, his writing is gorgeous, and it creeps up behind you when you’re not looking and whispers so gently in your ear you might start weeping by yourself, in the car, on the way to Costco. It might happen.
I leave you with some quotes to defend myself.
“You know, when someone has been crying, something gets left in the air. It’s not something you can see or smell, or feel. Or draw. But it’s there.”
“Not everyone comes back from Vietnam. Not really.”
“Why can’t poets just say what they want to say and then shut up?”
“Here’s how you practice shrieking like an insane woman who has been locked in an attic for a great many years:
You stand in the middle of a field.
You breathe in a couple of times to get as much air in your chest as you can.
You stretch your neck up like the Great Esquimaux Curlew.
You imagine that it’s Game Seven of the World Series and it’s the bottom of the ninth and Joe Pepitone is rounding third base and the throw is coming in and the catcher has his glove up waiting for the ball and Joe Pepitone is probably going to be out and the game will be over and the Yankees will lose.”
I’m just saying, of all the”bookstagram made me do it” books, let this be one.🐦🦢🦅🦉🪶