Publishers Weekly
What is the meaning of life? Mass (A Mango-Shaped Space) introduces a winning narrator who attempts to answer this question and ends up accomplishing much more. Jeremy and his best friend, Lizzy, are on a quest to discover Jeremy's purpose on earth before his 13th birthday. Set in New York City, the adventure begins when a mysterious box arrives. The package, assembled by his father before he died in a car accident five years prior (the man had a premonition of his early death), contains a sealed antique box inscribed with the message, "The Meaning of Life: For Jeremy Fink to Open on His 13th Birthday." The box can only be opened with a set of four keys, which have gone missing. Much of the novel's charm derives from Jeremy and Lizzy's unique friendship. Their personalities balance each other brilliantly-Lizzy the risktaker challenges Jeremy, who resists change. With less than a month to find the keys, the two meet a number of larger-than-life characters with their own life-lesson nuggets to bestow-most memorable among them the venerable pawnbroker, Mr. Oswald, for whom they make some surprising deliveries ("The harder something is to acquire, the more satisfying it is when you finally find it," says he). Jeremy and Lizzy find what they are looking for and more, but not where or in the way they expected. This exquisitely executed plot twist, combined with an ending that requires a few tissues, makes this soulful novel one not to miss. Ages 9-12. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 5-7-An elaborately locked wooden box requiring four separate but missing keys holds the treasure in this modern-day quest. Jeremy's father lived his life preparing for an early death, as foretold by a fortune-teller. He did, in fact, die when Jeremy was eight, but a package from him containing the locked box arrives one month before Jeremy's 13th birthday, the day on which the box is to be opened. With his friend Lizzy, Jeremy searches for the keys while contemplating the words engraved on the box, "The Meaning of Life: For Jeremy Fink. 13th Birthday." The search for the keys takes the friends around and about New York City, where they meet a large and increasingly convenient range of supporting characters, from members of a spiritualist congregation to a prominent astronomer, all of whom point them toward their own takes on the meaning of life. Mystery and adventure fans will be pulled in by the locked box, and, as a bonus, will get to know quirky, scientific Jeremy and impulsive Lizzy. Some readers might become impatient as the metaphysical quest lengthens, but those who stick with the story will find a warm picture of parental love and wisdom and of a boy growing into his own understanding and acceptance of life.-Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Years before he died, Jeremy Fink's father prepared a box containing "the meaning of life" for his son to open on his 13th birthday. When Jeremy receives the box a few months before that momentous day, the keys are missing, and it's up to him and his best friend Lizzy to find a way into the box. The search for the keys-or, failing the keys, the meaning of life itself-takes the two throughout New York City and into a spot of trouble, which lands them a very unusual community-service sentence: They must return treasures to the children, now grown, who pawned them long ago. This device brings Jeremy and Lizzy-both originals to the core-into contact with a calculated variety of characters, all of whom have their own unique angles on the meaning of life. Mass spins a leisurely tale that's occasionally Konigsburg-esque, carefully constructed to give narrator Jeremy ample time to reflect on his encounters. It may be a subplot or two in need of a trim, and the resolution will surprise nobody but Jeremy, but agreeable on the whole. (Fiction. 10-13)
OCT/NOV 07 - AudioFile
When a mysterious package containing a locked box inscribed with a personal message arrives one month before his birthday, Jeremy Fink and his lifelong pal, Lizzy, set out on a quest to unlock it—and discover the meaning of life. Along the way they encounter a host of zany characters whose lifestyles give them pause. Andy Paris captures the emotions of 13-year-old Jeremy, especially as Mr. Oswald expands his horizons and helps him cope with his sadness over the loss of his father. Paris also portrays the exuberance of Lizzy and the caring of Jeremy's mother. Listen and be swept into the intrigue! A.R. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
