Loa struck up a “friends with benefits” relationship with a boy from the debate team but then he left for a better school. Loa explains, “a Freak Observer pops into existence as a self-aware entity that makes its universe orderly.” Loa’s universe is far from orderly, hasn’t been orderly since her sister died. Loa is studying science and physics, and “freak observer” is something she researches as a special extra credit project. I could have been the dead one, but I’m not.” This is a story not of the toll that caring for an child takes on a family, it is the story of what happens to the family after that child who has been the center of the family dies. He hits me because it is easier to be angry than to be afraid. ‘You could’a been the dead one.’ That’s when he hits me with the plunger, because I could have been the dead one. The fear jumps out of his eyes and into me like a hot spark. Loa thinks, “ What’s the difference? Why am I not a dead girl? I don’t for a minute know. Loa’s father is not a violent man, he is a man moved to violence because he watched a beloved child die, he lost his job and sees his wife and daughter working to put food on the table, and he is moved to the violent act against Loa because she has come home in a police car after having witnessed a friend die in a truck accident which may be suicide. He names his daughter after the names in books he reads: Asta Sollilja. (Yes, I am the nerd who researched what book her father was reading….) Woolston paints a picture of a loving family despite the stress, a working class family where the father works hard and comes home at night and reads aloud to his family and his dying daughter.

For years, her parents took care of their daughter.

Loa’s younger sister Asta died the year before from Rett Syndrome, a disorder where for the first eighteen months of a child’s life everything seems fine and then the child stagnates and regresses. I could raise my hand and tell the whole class what I learned about pressure and force when my dad clobbered me.” Ah, the reader thinks as the pages turn, this will be a book about an abusive family. “ I have a little yellow green blush of bruise under my jaw. Read it to both get a better understanding of what that means and also then to be able to weigh on the discussion of the Morris Award and what novels did or didn’t make it to the shortlist.Īnd the reason for all this talking about a book without talking about a book is, well, I’m going to be talking about the book and may include spoilers because for me, for The Freak Observer, the beauty and strength cannot be discussed without revealing either plot points or character growth that some people would prefer to discover on their own.Īt first, Loa Lindgren’s life seems harsh and brutal. This also means that if you love YA literature, you should read this (and the other nominees) because, well, it’s one of the five best debut novels.

The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston