I read Tangerine, Edward Bloor's breakout, award-winning novel when I was in middle school, right after it came out in 1999. It was the librarian's selection for our middle school book club ( we had also read the young Harry Potter in book club, just before it became huge). It wasn't a book I would have picked up on my own and after twelve years I still remember it as being surreal, like a story set in a Salvador Dali painting. It was a good book but in my memory I can't keep the weirdness straight.I haven't checked in with Bloor since, though a quick database search on my local library website shows he has published four or five books since Tangerine. I was browsing the YA section of the Pawtucket library, and grabbed this book both based on the clever cover and the author's name before being pulled into an excruciating conversation about graphic novels with the YA librarian. I'm sorry, I appreciate the effort and time people put into them, but as far as I'm concerned, they're still comic books, which I have zero interest in reading.
That being said it was a phenomenal choice, by far the best book I've read this year. Unfortunately I somehow forgot to post on it when I read it, so it's posted slightly out of reading order if you look at the list. Its a time travel story, however time travel is rare in the narrative. The focus is on the journey that the main character Martin takes. His discovery of what really matters to him in life, his journey towards fulfilling his own spirituality, and his acceptance of the order of things, including the reality of his own family. His story is one of the most real views of family I've ever seen, in YA or adult fiction. Some might argue that it is too adult a portrayal for a YA novel, and the whole story is very adult in both its plot an themes.
Death is a prominent feature, some of it very violent. The repercussions of this, both in this world and the next are also called into question. I like the message of the story, that there is moral gray areas in life, however at the end all humans have to answer one question, what did you do to help? In its ideology it reminded me a lot of Agnes of God, where a lot of questions are asked, but many left unanswered. This is a criticism of a lot of reviewers, but unfortunately I can't count that among the faults. Spirituality is a messy business, which Martin admits, however he like all of us does his best. Its basic Catholicness appeals to me, the idea of doing your first nine Fridays, not because you necessarily believe it will help, but because it comforts you. Saying a prayer for someone's immortal soul, because after death its the only way to continue to show your love. London Calling isn't a happy story, then again any story can be happy. Its a real story about ordinary people living their lives, whether now or in the past. The time travel is just a vehicle to show us that.
