Oddballs

by William Sleator

Overview

The author of such reliably offbeat sf thrillers as Strange Attractors (1990) radically changes pace for ten hilarious, semi- autobiographical stories. With affection and a splendid sense of comic timing, Sleator drags forth incidents from his family closet's darkest recesses—the time young Tycho was hypnotized and then made to drink from the toilet; an indignant skit that laid bare the failings of certain parents, to their vast amusement; rough-and-tumble car games; and deliciously horrifying pranks played on unsuspecting passersby. Vivid characterizations (sister Vicky "had always enjoyed making dolls fight with each other; when the dolls wore out, she ripped off their arms and legs. Now she is a nurse'') always balance foibles with saving graces; embarrassment is eased by laughter, while painful circumstances always come right in the end. Sleator shows how, in a loosely run household presided over by indulgent working parents, he and his three siblings developed confident, independent spirits. Though he admits to making up a few things, his dedication is telling – "To my family: Please forgive me!''

– Kirkus Reviews

 

 

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140374384
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/01/1995
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	535,716
Product dimensions:	4.38(w) x 7.13(h) x 0.38(d)
Lexile:	1010L (what's this?)
Age Range:	11 - 14 Years

About the Author

William Sleator (1945–2011) was the author of numerous science fiction books for children and young adults, including Interstellar Pig, House of Stairs, and Blackbriar.

Editorial Reviews

Is it fact or fiction? Although catalogued as "Family life--Fiction," Sleator's latest reads just like autobiography, full of familiarities, little meannesses, and strange, even appalling moments that sound absolutely real. Sleator himself says that there's lots of truth in what he's written: "as far as I'm concerned, it's all a pretty accurate picture of what life was like." Billy (Sleator?), the story narrator, an oddball by his own admission, recalls growing up in a most unusual household with caring, easygoing parents who encouraged him and his brothers and sister to become independent. The book is less a novel than it is a series of interconnected stories about Billy's friends and family, enriched by the antics of Billy's rambunctious, nonconformist-by-choice younger sister, Vicky (with whom he often conspired during his childhood and teenage years). These homespun episodes veer from the outright gross ("Vicky and I invented a wonderful game to play on our car trips. We pretended we were BMs. We'd wrap ourselves up in an old brown blanket in the back of the station wagon and tell each other our life stories as excrement") and surprising ("Dad would sometimes entertain Vicky and me by blindfolding us and driving us 20. 20. 20. to some point in the city that he knew was unfamiliar to us . . . leaving us to find our own way home") to the poignant and the uproariously funny. Sleator's comic timing sometimes falls flat, and readers actually learn surprisingly little about Billy, who's seems not much more than Vicky's tagalong. But Sleator's "honesty" is totally disarming, and he keeps us constantly in awe of his larger-than-life family in a way that makes it impossible not to pause and consider one's own family ties.

Stephanie Zvirin