K-SCORE: 72
Author: R.J. Palacio
Spoiler Level: Minor
I wanted to like Wonder more than I actually did. It’s middle grade fiction, which I rarely think to read, and has an interesting real-life-relevant premise about a boy who was born with severe facial abnormalities and has to try to fit in when he finally attends school in 5th grade. I was expecting something charming, a little sad, a little empowering, and heartwarming, and I got all of those things, but in significantly less amounts than I was hoping for. R.J. Palacio does a good job of making the novel quick and accessible, so I can understand why Wonder took off like it did. (It’s even easier to understand how she got her start if you know that she used to work in publishing, but not as an author). However, the actual conflicts and commentary in Wonder lack significant depth.
Wonder has too many kind and generous characters. August’s mistreatment as a result of his disfigurement is what drives the story forward. The novel could have survived with any one of August’s mother Isabel, father Nate, friend Jack, friend Summer, principal Mr. Tushman, sister Olivia, or Olivia’s sister’s friend Miranda. How many people does August need in his life to stand next to him and scream, “I love this boy and the way he looks,” while he finds the courage to face crowds of people not used to him? It’s a hopeful message that R.J. Palacio believes there are so many good-hearted people in the world that August would have this support base, but it makes for a weaker story. August, as a character, doesn’t come up with clever strategies to overcome the natural challenges of judgmental middle-schoolers. 5th graders are naturally devilish, having learned next to nothing of responsibility, but quickly getting a grasp on social hierarchy. Palacio makes a few of them apathetic and one mean-spirited, and she gives the mean-spirited one rich and snobby parents. All August has to do, really, is keep going to school like normal and then receive an award at the end of the year for outstanding moral fiber and character. It’s not that you’re not convinced that August is a good person, it’s that, by the end, you’re not convinced of how difficult the challenges he had to overcome actually were.
“August’s abnormality is interesting, but then it’s grafted onto some of the most mundane of events.”
What literally happens in Wonder isn’t that interesting. August’s abnormality is interesting, but then it’s grafted onto some of the most mundane of events. Halloween costume day, a few school projects, the play Our Town, sitting around eating lunch… it’s not thrilling and not challenging. Even the big camping trip climax has only a little drama. And Palacio kills the dog. Why does she kill the dog? And why is it handled so quickly and so stupidly with the day of crying and the new puppy thing? That dog licked August’s face, incapable of seeing him as humans do, and she had been with him for his whole life, there to support him in ways people couldn’t. And she offs her and and then immediately has August arrive at the conclusion that Daisy, (come on!) will live in August’s heart forever? The whole book could have been about that, and instead, it was another potato lamp-esque section. Linking the story to a more central conflict, eliminating many of the wandering sections that didn’t connect to other sections, and toughening up both August and his adversaries would have gone a long way in making a more moving and sweeter tale.
The interesting part of the premise is the variety of ways people mistreat him, sometimes with overt teasing, sometimes with behind-the-back whispers and rumor-mongering, sometimes with shunning and an inability to talk to him normally. I imagine that people who actually suffer from mandibulofacial dysostosis get used to a certain amount of this, and ignoring the Julians of the world becomes automatic as it's essential to survival. The complexity comes from dealing with people who aren’t cruel, but assume there are other things wrong with such boys and girls besides their faces, assume emotional problems, and treat them like a charity cases, and none of that is really covered in Wonder. Nor does it tackle the issue of August looking to his future. Because of the condition he was born with, August is locked out of certain paths in life, and will always struggle to connect with and meet new people. That’s not an issue when he has parents and teachers to guide him and force others to interact with him. What happens when he needs to demand the attention of others? And a bunch of the 5th graders in Wonder start dating each other. August and Summer have a strong connection, but they’re quick to emphatically mention that they’re not romantically together. What happens when August does have romantic feelings for a good-hearted girl like Summer? How does he cope with the idea that it could be hugely difficult if not impossible to find someone who is physically attracted to him?
I don’t want to fault Wonder too too much for what it’s not, though. It is a nice story with nice characters that is good for kids. And Palacio does push towards innovation with the way she explores perspective. The first-person format is great, and made even better when she switches to non-August characters, especially Miranda and Olivia, who love August, but have particularly interesting takes on what it’s like to be a high school girl and have him in their lives.
Wonder is fine. Ultimately, though, I fear it was written by a woman who deeply wanted to hold the belief that the world is a good enough place to rise to meet the challenge of a disfigured boy like August. That makes her feel better and it makes idealists feel better. I’m not being a pessimist. Maybe the world is that place. But that should be irrelevant. It would have been a better book if it weren’t designed to make everyone feel better about such cruelties of the nature, but rather had been designed to champion one person, and sometimes that’s about accepting really harsh truths, saying “to hell with this, to hell with you all,” and making most people uncomfortable and uncertain.