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A review by simonlorden
The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden
5.0
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a scary, brave, complicated, important book. It's a book about getting out of abusive relationships, about the gun control debate, about things not being black-and-white, about bullying, about speaking up, about a girl with the weight of the world on her soldiers, and yes, about octopuses, too.
That's one of the things about people on that beautiful tropical island: they can't see who's floating about in the ocean around them. Or maybe they can and they just choose not to look. I don't know.
The Benefits of Being an Octopus is about a 13-year-old girl Zoey who lives with her mother and her three small siblings in her mother's boyfriend's trailer. There is a lot of focus on surviving and supporting your family while poor, including the power being cut off, applying for benefits, not being able to wash your clothes, and the other kids at school laughing at you. It's about the bitter feeling when it seems like the other kids are allowed to have Valentine's Day gifts as their biggest problem, but you aren't.
This book was really difficult to read at times, with many parent figures and adults who have failed these children. Some of them were trying their best and ended up doing better, while others were toxic and people you needed to get away from.
I remember thinking several times that these kids (both Zoey and some of her classmates) sound older than they are, that their debate club sounds like something we'd have at college, but then I realised that I have the wrong view on 13-year-olds and they are more mature than I'd think. I'm glad that they are, but it's sad to feel like they have to be. There were so many things in this book that in an ideal world kids Zoey's age shouldn't have to deal with.
Overall, this was a difficult that very important book that deals with many different issues that some real kids have to deal with every day.
Also, shout out to teachers who notice when something is wrong and go out of their way to help.
This is a scary, brave, complicated, important book. It's a book about getting out of abusive relationships, about the gun control debate, about things not being black-and-white, about bullying, about speaking up, about a girl with the weight of the world on her soldiers, and yes, about octopuses, too.
That's one of the things about people on that beautiful tropical island: they can't see who's floating about in the ocean around them. Or maybe they can and they just choose not to look. I don't know.
The Benefits of Being an Octopus is about a 13-year-old girl Zoey who lives with her mother and her three small siblings in her mother's boyfriend's trailer. There is a lot of focus on surviving and supporting your family while poor, including the power being cut off, applying for benefits, not being able to wash your clothes, and the other kids at school laughing at you. It's about the bitter feeling when it seems like the other kids are allowed to have Valentine's Day gifts as their biggest problem, but you aren't.
This book was really difficult to read at times, with many parent figures and adults who have failed these children. Some of them were trying their best and ended up doing better, while others were toxic and people you needed to get away from.
I remember thinking several times that these kids (both Zoey and some of her classmates) sound older than they are, that their debate club sounds like something we'd have at college, but then I realised that I have the wrong view on 13-year-olds and they are more mature than I'd think. I'm glad that they are, but it's sad to feel like they have to be. There were so many things in this book that in an ideal world kids Zoey's age shouldn't have to deal with.
Overall, this was a difficult that very important book that deals with many different issues that some real kids have to deal with every day.
Also, shout out to teachers who notice when something is wrong and go out of their way to help.