Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

(Reposted from my Goodreads review, August 25, 2009.)

I was really, really impressed with this. The author drew me in quickly with Jason's voice; I immediately felt as though I was in his head, and his thought process was demystified. It was almost painful, at times, to read Jason's thoughts, and know that he wants to answer someone's question, to explain himself to someone, but he just can't. He struggles constantly with his body movements, his words, and his relation to other people, in a very profound and realistic way.

Although very little actually happens in the story - we are taken through several days of Jason's life, his past, and then to an authors' convention in Texas where he steps outside his own boundaries and grows - it was engrossing. I'd never thought that a book that is basically about a few emails back and forth between two teenagers, as well as one of their lives, would be this interesting, but it's a testament to the author's skill that she was able to write the characters and their interactions so skillfully.