David Arnold
Series: n/a
Genre/Age: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Viking
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads
This is Noah Oakman → sixteen, Bowie believer, concise historian, disillusioned swimmer, son, brother, friend.REVIEW
Then Noah → gets hypnotized.
Now Noah → sees changes—inexplicable scars, odd behaviors, rewritten histories—in all those around him. All except his Strange Fascinations . . .
Things in Noah's life appeared to be going according to plan. The problem was, they were not his plans. He was 16-years old, and not sure what he really wanted. He, in fact, seemed to be having a sort of existential-crisis. His solution? He got really drunk, and spent time with a rather strange stranger, who appeared to have done something to him, because the following day, Noah's life had been altered in small ways with big affects.
I fell in love with Arnold's storytelling via Kids of Appetite, returned for more of his genius with Mosquitoland, and am now firmly a devotee of David Arnold after finishing the quirky and thought provoking masterpiece, The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik.
I found Noah to be quite a fascinating protagonist. His level of intelligence coupled with his heightened self-awareness yielded so many stimulating inner monologues and conversations. I truly loved being in his head and in his world.
Noah was grappling with a lot of things, which I think many teens (and adults) could relate to. He felt stuck on this path, which he did not choose, and he was afraid to be honest about what he did and didn't want. His fear of change and the future was some common ground between Noah and myself, and I thought his feelings and reactions were very realistic.
One of the things Noah feared was the relationship between him, Alan, and his twin sister, Val, changing. They called themselves "the fragile triangle", and they shared a really special friendship. I liked Val a lot, but the right angle of that triangle was the bromance between Alan and Noah. Their bond was so lovely and strong, and I adored how they could be so open and emotional with each other.
I am all for the present and awesome YA families we are seeing more and more of these days, and Noah's family joins this list. They shared meals together and family movie nights, and they also talked to one another. His parents were loving and openly affectionate. His sister was a little firecracker, who won a piece of my heart, and it was special seeing the bond between those two grow and gain strength.
But you want to know what I really adored? Noah wrote these concise histories. He would take all these seemingly unrelated things, and find a thread between them. The first two totally had me WTFing. They were phenomenal, and had me looking forward to more of them.
And then there were the strange fascinations. I never really thought of things I am fascinated, borderline obsessed with, but I will admit, that Noah has me thinking about them. I thought Arnold deftly wove these fascinations into the story, and I appreciated how they tied into his fears of change and loneliness versus being alone.
Overall: David Arnold is 3 for 3 for me! This was another wonderful addition to his body of work, which lived up to its title, and was wholly fascinating.
• Bowie Polaroid banner from Kevin Profitt
• Old man painting by James Coates
• Bowie illustration by David Mack
* ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
BOOK LINKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FOLLOW THE TOUR
WEEK ONE
- May 7 – The Blonde Bookworm – Review
- May 8 – Confessions of a YA Reader – Review + My Strange Fascinations
- May 9 – Forever Bookish – Review
- May 10 – Rants and Raves of a Bibliophile – Playlist with Graphic Quotes
- May 11 – Adventures in YA Publishing – Author Q&A
- May 14 – The Nerdy Girl Express – Review
- May 15 – A Court of Coffee and Books – Review + Graphic Quotes
- May 16 – BookCrushin – Review + Playlist
- May 17 – Mind of a Book Dragon – Review
- May 18 – Tales of the Ravenous Reader – AuthorGuest Post: What Would Your Strange Fascination Be?
- May 21 – Pop! Goes the Reader – Wallpaper
- May 22 – The Young Folks – Author Q&A
- May 23 – Page Travels – Creative Instagram
- May 24 – Bookfoolery – Review
- May 25 – Dazzled by Books – Candle Creation Post + Review
- May 28 – Paper Trail YA – Author Q&A
- May 29 – Snowandbooks – Review + Aesthetic Board
- May 30 – Reading Writing and Me – Book Review
- May 31 – The Radiant Reader – Playlist + Creative Instagram Picture
- June 1 – We Live and Breathe Books – Review + Moodboard
Do you have any strange fascinations?
Let us know in the comments!
It's great that you were able to get into the blog tour for this one! I've already read so many positive things about it (plus...THE PREMISE! I love the premise!), and your review was a great addition to them. I'm sold!
ReplyDeleteI was thrilled to be part of this tour, because I love Arnold's books so much. He is definitely on a list of authors, whose work is throughly interesting and thought provoking.
DeleteI keep hearing things about this one. I’m intrigued.
ReplyDeleteArnold writes such interesting characters and trippy stories. I am so into his work.
DeleteThat cover is so trippy! I haven't read anything by this author, but now I'm interested! I love that it seems to focus on family and those relationships.
ReplyDeleteL @ Do You Dog-ear?
The cover is a great illustration of how it was in Noah's head during his little crisis.
DeleteFirst, epic cover that makes me think I should be under a disco ball lol But an even more interesting blurb. YOu've made me so curious about Noah!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the cover, it screamed 80s to me, but I can see the hypnosis thing coming through too.
DeleteI loved Kids of Appetite and own Mosquitoland (need to get to it!) but am excited for this one. I like his writing a lot and this sounds really good. Great review!
ReplyDeleteKOA was my first Arnold book, but I have been really pleased with all three of his books.
DeleteSounds like a great read :)
ReplyDeleteI thought it was fabulous
DeleteIt sounds like Noah's mind is really a spectacular kind of place to be. I think it would be so cool to see how he strings his thoughts, histories and theories together like you mentioned in the review and now you've made me want to read it! I'm all for families in YA too ;) Another plus :D
ReplyDeleteSpectacular, yes, but also complicated. He had a lot going on inside there, which he kept to himself.
DeleteThere is just something about Arnold's storytelling that keeps me coming back for me. He's a little John Green, but also a little something else, wholly his own, but always so intriguing.
ReplyDelete