EBOOK ☆ Just Call Me Superhero ä Alina Bronsky
Upport group for young people with physical disabilities which he dubs “the cripple group” led by an eccentric older man known as The Guru Marek is dismissive of the other members of the support group seeing little connection between their misfortunes and his own The one exception to this is Janne the beautiful young and wheelchair bound woman with whom he has fallen in love When a family crisis forces Ma Alina Bronsky is a very strong author and so I was excited to read her new novel It was a little too gimmicky for me but a lot of the emotional struggles of Marek who is horribly deformed by a dog attack before the novel begins rang especially true However for someone new to the author I'd recommend Broken Glass Park instead
Alina Bronsky ä Just Call Me Superhero MOBI
Just Call Me SuperheroRussian born Alina Bronsky whose Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and a Favorite Read of the Just Call MOBI #233 Year by both The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal returns with a startling new novel about the difficult work of self acceptance After an encounter with a dog in which he was worsted seventeen year old Marek begins attending a s Alina Bronsky’s Just Call Me Superhero translated from the German by Tim Mohr is told through the strong narrative voice of seventeen year old Marek It is a compelling coming of age story in which the narrator learns about self acceptance and the value of human connection Marek’s face has been badly disfigured by an attack from a Rottweiler His facial scars make it difficult for him to smile He is very self conscious about his looks wears dark glasses to hide behind his disfigured face and refuses to look at himself in the mirror He disrespects his divorced mother shows no sympathy for her and addresses her by her first name When his mother tricks him into a joining a support group for young people with disabilities Marek fully reveals his nature He is cynical resentful self absorbed homophobic insensitive callous irreverent and tactless He is also intelligent observant and very funny Referring to the support group as “the cripple group” Marek coolly assesses each of its members including the leader whom he facetiously dubs “The Guru” His attention is immediately drawn to a young beautiful woman in a wheel chair As much as he resents the group he agrees to join them on a week long bonding retreat organized by the Guru But when he receives news of his father’s sudden death Marek is forced to cut short the retreat to attend his father’s funeral Forced to help with the arrangements of his father’s funeral Marek steps outside of himself and begins to show growth He attends to the needs of his mother young step mother and six year old step brother He displays genuine concern for others and is especially solicitous towards his mother and young step brother He is shocked when his support group unexpectedly shows up to pay their respects It slowly dawns on him that although people including his young step brother may initially recoil at seeing his face they ultimately move beyond his appearance and accept him for what he is and not for the way he looks The novel concludes with Marek removing his dark glasses and looking at his reflection in the mirrorThe novel explores an age old theme how much of our identity is tied up with the way we look Marek learns people may initially judge you by your physical appearance but ultimately how you look withers in significance to how you treat others Alina Bronsky gives the theme a refreshingly new treatment by injecting laugh out loud humor vivid imagery keen observations nimble pacing well developed characters and a narrator who comes to recognize who we are is defined by the love we show for othersA compelling coming of age story and a delightful read Highly recommendedMy book reviews are also available at wwwtamaraaghajaffarcom