Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach

Title: Thanks for the Trouble
Author: Tommy Wallach
Date Read: March 12 2017

Published: February 23 2016 @ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA Contemporary/Magical Realism

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

"There’s a word in Portuguese that my dad wrote about in one of his books: saudade. 
It’s the sadness you feel for something that isn’t gone yet, but will be. The sadness of lost causes. The sadness of being alive."

I really liked this book. That seems like a pretty basic thing to say, but given that I haven't read a YA contemporary (can we call this that? Magical realism? I don't know) in like six years, I was cautious going in. But I was so pleasantly surprised to find this heartwarming story; it was fun and it felt really authentic, and it had a lot of great (as well as a lot of stupid, but more on that later) insights on the world. 

Thanks for the Trouble follows Parker Santé, who hasn't spoken a word since his father died years ago, and his weekend with a girl named Zelda who claims to have been born two-hundred-and-forty-six years ago. They go on adventures around San Francisco, writing stories and grappling with grief and mortality as Parker attempts to show Zelda the authentic teenage experience, which he has never allowed himself to have. 

The crazy thing is, what irked me for a lot of the book actually became one of my favourite things about it in the end: the narration. Because oh my god, could you try any harder? Parker Santé is so full of shit. But the thing is, it was really authentic to Parker as a character, and to the kind of thoughts you have when you're seventeen and you think of yourself as apart from everyone else. He actually reminded me a lot of my best friend from high school. This is summarized perfectly, I think, when Zelda notes that "young people feel things so deeply, don't they?" As much as you want to punch Parker in the face for literally comparing himself to Mario and Link, his pretence allows us to explore themes of age and maturity and how those two things interact. 

That aside, I absolutely loved the fairytales interspersed throughout the narrative. I think Wallach's writing style and imagination really shined in those sections. 

Overall, really happy that I read this, and I would definitely recommend it.

xx May B. 

Also I made a tumblr aesthetic type edit about this book and I'm not sorry.