
Author: Fiona Wood
Publication Date: 8/1/10
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
[Goodreads | Fishpond]
Blurb: Fourteen year old nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a reversal of family fortune, moving house, new school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and an impossible crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life is a mess, but for now he's narrowed it down to just six impossible things...
Review:
Sometimes I like to think of my adventures in reading as an episode of MTV’s old show, Singled Out. Sure, that dates me as a human being but hear me out. I’m standing at the end of an extremely long pathway and all the books that have ever been written are at the beginning. Slowly, I start weeding them out. “Westerns, take a hike!”, I say to start things off. (or maybe some sort of awkward cowboyish saying would be more apt as I don’t know too many cowboys into hiking) “Self-help, I know you want to be my friend and solve my problems but you’re just too needy for me. Sorry!” As I start to really get into the task, the process goes much quicker. “Picture books, war memoirs, religious fiction and nonfiction, culinary mysteries, you don’t strike my fancy.” Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? There are still millions of books here. I need to think of things I do want in a potential book partner. Okay, I’m looking for a young adult book. Huzzah! I just cut down over half of those freaking books. Alright, well I’ve been really into male-narrated YA so how about that as a criterion? Yes, now we’re talking. And Australian! Oh geez, now we’re down to about 50. Funny. Divorced parents, one of whom is gay. Baking. Old house filled with antiques and a secret attic. Reading diaries. A crush on the girl next door. Light-hearted tone, wacky side characters, and a bit of self-examination. Ah, Six Impossible Things, there you are. You were the perfect book at the perfect moment for me.
4.5/5 stars