Thanks to NetGalley and Goodreads for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Sometimes I encounter books with character voices that are so strong I can't stop hearing them talk afterward. It's not often, which is what makes it a special occurrence. Boo, by Neil Smith, is one such story with a voice that didn't want to dislodge itself. Our voice this time is the same as the book’s title, a boy named Oliver who goes by Boo. He’s dead—recently so—and finds himself in Town, an afterlife that exists exclusively for 13-year-old American children.
Sometimes I encounter books with character voices that are so strong I can't stop hearing them talk afterward. It's not often, which is what makes it a special occurrence. Boo, by Neil Smith, is one such story with a voice that didn't want to dislodge itself. Our voice this time is the same as the book’s title, a boy named Oliver who goes by Boo. He’s dead—recently so—and finds himself in Town, an afterlife that exists exclusively for 13-year-old American children.
Boo has been plagued by a holey heart since birth, which he
assumes is what killed him, but after a classmate of his ends up in Town a few
weeks later, he discovers the truth: he and the classmate, Johnny, have been
victims of open gunfire at their middle school. Johnny is obsessed with
discovering the identity of the killer and apprehending him, convinced that the
shooter (referred to as Gunboy) also died in the shooting and may very well be
in Town with them.
I've seen Boo compared
to The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-time, and at first I understood and agreed with that
comparison--that book, narrated by a boy on the autistic spectrum, features one
of the most memorable narrative voices I've ever read. It's so strong, in fact,
that even the chapter numbers are not safe: Christopher only numbers his
chapters with prime numbers. Boo numbers his chapters sequentially, but he uses
the periodic table instead of regular numbers. Characteristically-speaking, there
are things about Boo, the main character of our tale, that reminded me of
Christopher--his conception of social interaction is not the same as everyone
else's; he's a loner; he detests physical encounters with other people.
But I have spoken out before about how unfair comparisons are, how
they are intended as flattery but often get in the way of appreciating the book
for how it stands on its own. So yes, Boo is removed from the realm
of typical social interaction, but it’s more connected to a scientific
remove from emotion than a place on the autistic spectrum. Boo wants to study
Town, the way everything—even the people—self-repairs its damage, the way
Townies never age but after 50 years disappear from Town forever.
Neil Smith really pulls off something marvelous here, because Town
is so interesting that the book could spend its entirety exploring the rules of
the world and I would have loved it anyway. This could have been a novel in
stories the purpose of which was to explore daily life in Town and I would have
loved it. Instead, Smith gives a lot
of delicate, engaging world-building that does not dominate the novel.
