~ A Taxonomy of Love, by Rachel Allen ~
This is a young adults novel, but reads so well that this genre classification is of no relevance. That said, classification is on the title of this novel, and is a running theme throughout the story. The story begins the summer that the protagonist, Spencer, turns 13. That summer, Hope Birdsong and her family move in next door, and Spencer learns taxonomy. Like many YA novels, this is about a search for self identity and one’s place in the world.
“Some people don’t like labels and things, but I think they can help you understand yourself. Sometimes. Like if you’ve been acting really weird and can’t help it and the doctor finally tells you that you have Tourette’s syndrome. […] Labels like that can lift the weight off your shoulders.
I guess that’s why I have always liked classifying people and things […] And these taxonomies, they could be even better than the Magic cards. Maybe I could finally figure out why I see things so different from everybody else. Maybe I could use it to understand why girls always seem to like my big brother so much. Maybe I could use it to understand everything.”
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The novel unfolds year by year of Spencer’s teenaged life right up till he is 19. It is a charming narrative in Spencer’s unique voice, and from his very particular perspective. He suffers Tourette’s syndrome, but takes it in stride as part of life. He lives with a father who is uncomfortable with his syndrome and who keeps him at arm’s length until he (the father) learns to make peace with it. His stepmother, Pam, is a delight, and a dream mum by any standards. A feisty, wise grandmother, Mimi, lives over the garage. His handsome, athletic older brother Dean, is at once the bane of Spencer’s life, and yet also an aspirational figure. There are few if any villains in this story. The mean kids grow up, and stop being so mean. Dean torments Spencer as any older sibling might, but also looks out for him and is proud of him. Spencer grows up in a loving home, and although he does get some grief in school, learns to cope, learns to find friends, and for most part, has a happy adolescence. It is a refreshingly non-clichéd story of a boy who is clearly slightly different, but not wholly isolated or alienated by his difference. His community are also for most part, quite accepting and supportive.
Hope is of course the love of his life right away. She is as unusual as Spencer is, although in different ways. Hope adores her elder sister, Janie, who is always travelling around the world, doing great things, but ever the loving elder sister. When Janie dies unexpectedly and very young, Hope’s life comes crashing around her as she tries to come to terms with her grief and loss. Spencer is pushed away as is everyone else, but he sticks close, never able to give up on her, or to give up hopes of her. The rapports Allen depicts, between Hope and Spencer, between Janie and Hope, are delightful, and exactly what would appeal to a teenaged reader, sounding very authentic chords in its telling.
The narrative develops on their life in school, the parts played by their family and friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, and slightly touches on their identity as southerners, located as they are in Georgia. Both Hope and Spencer take a few years to find themselves, and then each other, in the normal process of maturing and attaining adulthood. It is not a relevationary tale, it is just a perfectly credible story told very well. Spencer’s voice, in which the story is told throughout, retains its childlike lucidity and sincerity, while never verging into the disingenuous. He makes a charming narrator, who draws the reader in effortlessly, and keeps the pages turning swiftly and smoothly.
In all, a lovely reading experience, and I would be more than ready to read any of Rachel Allen’s future offerings.
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