Eddy, Eddy

March 15, 2024
A New Zealand boy reckons with his past and his present. Eddy Smallbone is mourning the loss of his beloved Labrador, Marley. Her death occurred right around the two-year anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake and his grandmother's passing. An orphan, he's been raised by the uncle he calls Brain, a research librarian who's surrounded Eddy with a coterie of caring adults, including godmother Bridgie, cousin Ginge, and "the Modern Priest." Eddy's best friend, Thomas "Toss" Moore, whom he's in choir and assorted bands with, is recovering from salmonella poisoning. The 19-year-old Eddy has dealt with numerous changes; he dropped out of school just before the first quake, and his internal world has been turbulent ever since, with long stretches of quiet punctuated by sudden bursts of noise. Still, Eddy is processing Marley's death with action: He takes on new jobs (such as pet sitting and, inadvertently, child care), in addition to working his regular checkout gig at the supermarket. While on a pet-sitting assignment with a nun's cursing parrot, he bumps into his ex, Boo O'Brien, who injects further complications into his already cluttered world. What follows is an often sweet and sometimes humorous exploration of love, mental health, family, faith, grief, and the past. This sophisticated story weaves in and out of the present day, allowing for a full perspective on Eddy--with occasional commentary from Boo herself--as he juggles reality, responsibility, and hope. Main characters read white. A soulfully layered story told with wit and care. (Fiction. 14-adult)

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April 1, 2024
Grades 10-12 *Starred Review* From New Zealand comes this remarkable novel, the story of 19-year-old Eddy navigating life after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake upends his existence. Orphaned at a young age, he lives with his 50-year-old bachelor uncle, a research librarian. Though preternaturally bright, Eddy has dropped out of school and now has a "portfolio of pet-minding jobs," which leads him to the Mulholland family and their young daughter, Delphine, with whom he quickly becomes attached. Eddy then meets another soon-to-be-major character: Sue Lombardo, a nun, who hires him to look after her constipated cockatoo. At the vet, Eddy is amazed to encounter Boo, his erstwhile, long-absent girlfriend. The two resume a cautious, tentative relationship that is tested when Boo becomes pregnant. Finally, there is Toss, Eddy's acerbic best friend, who is ill but is, like Eddy, musically and somewhat esoterically gifted. Character-driven and highly sophisticated, this literary novel follows these relationships with psychological acuity. The novel is beautifully written, filled with memorable phrases and observations: an annoying priest "dropped Italian phrases like dog doo"; "the sun made a dandelion halo of her silver hair"; Toss reminds Eddy of The Death of Chatterton, "only without the lilac trousers." Older teens who enjoy artful, serious fiction will dote on this superb effort, as will adults, since this is a quintessential crossover novel.

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