“You can find ways to be okay with dying, but you can’t fake your way through living.” ― John Corey Whaley, Noggin

John Corey Whaley surprises us one more time with an amazing story and unique characters that you will wish you could have as your friends. Whaley does not write only about some fictional characters but he gives them life. How is it possible that one can totally fall “in love” with them to the point of actually liking those characters better than the main one? It totally happens! And Whaley always make me feel like this with his books. “Where Things Come Back” and “Noggin” are just peculiar and touching coming of age stories outside of this world. “Where Things Come Back” where a curse becomes a blessing, and “Noggin” when losing your head is taken literal.

71jwxdx161l This last story is full of advices that can be applied to reader’s real life. Wisdom that needs to be shared with the world, and Whaley does it magnificently with an impossible situation. Making it more appealing and easier to understand. The people are the owners of their freedom and happiness, and one needs to understand that those elements come from oneself and not from other people. Once, one told me that “being happy opens the door for us to feel sad,” which is true. As long as you feel happy, you will feel at some point, sadness that may break your world down to crumbles. Sometimes when that happens, we will bury deep down the core of our things, hopes, and dreams that will take a while to recover. But after a while, when you need them, some people may have buried those so deep that they will never be able to regain that treasure that they fear to bury, due to oblivion.

Another piece of wisdom that Whaley shares with us is how we cannot obsess ourselves with the pass and how things were before since nothing will ever be as it was, but not only that, people change and not everybody is alike. So it’s illogical to think that “all boys are the same” or “all girls are the same” since everybody has their own things buried, and it is their job and our job to dig them out. The main character of this book is so obsessed with his past that feels it was just a few hours ago, but for the rest a lot of time has passed. One needs to learn to let things go away since waiting for something or someone will only sink you slowly on your own misery.

I did lose my head over this book (pun intended) but I will not hope you to feel that way. I cannot imagine how it will be to wake up with somebody else body sew to your neck. At some point I thought the main character was being over dramatic and annoying since he has a better body than before, but self esteem and the understanding of oneself comes to link to our body. How can I feel comfortable, happy, and complete when I look myself on the mirror and I do not see myself? Or at least not my complete selve. The way the author narrates the story and Travis’ point of view and explanations of his struggle is just amazing, and it does make you understand how he feels, and make me feel grateful for having what I have.

I hope you take your time to read this book. It is a fast-paced reading and totally enjoyable for the weirdness and absurdity of the situation. It is totally worthy of the price and my time!