I wish Goodreads would let us do half votes. I want to give this book a 4.5. It does not deserve a 4 or 5. I liked many things about Catherine Ryan Hyde’s Just a Regular Boy, but I hated one thing.
I did not have as bad as a childhood as Remy Blake in some ways, but in other ways it was worse. I had a horrible childhood. I was made to feel as Remy in that I was not a regular boy. I felt as if something was wrong with me. I wanted someone to tell me that I was okay. I wanted to know I was loved and that I mattered. I wanted someone to talk to me.
The story was excellent and I really liked that all the characters were like real humans and had their own issues because that is real life. Sorry, I am not giving anyone a synopsis of the book because you can read it elsewhere.
Remy is taken into deep woods of Idaho by his father, a survivalist, after his mother’s death. Remy is five years old. His father dies unexpectedly when Remy is eight. Remy is alone in the woods and in the world.
My one problem with the book is the writing. Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote a creative story, but sometimes her prose was wishy-washy, especially in regard to Anne, a mother of two teenagers who comes into Remy’s life. There were times she wrote it “was this way or maybe it was that way” too many times as if she (Hyde) did not know what a person feels or how to express it herself.
I will admit that I had tears in my eyes a few times during reading this book. I highly recommend it for your inner child who was damaged by a family member.
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