Friday, May 23, 2014

{ARC Review} Noggin By: John Corey Whaley


Title: Noggin
Author: John Corey Whaley
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Shelves: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Publication Date: April 8th, 2014
Source: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Format: Physical ARC

Synopsis: You only live once... unless you're Travis Coates, one of the miracle survivors of new cryogenic studies. Five years after his body died from the cancer that plagued him, Travis and his head are back... just on a new body. So imagine you're a teenage boy with an amazing girlfriend and an awesome best friend. Then cancer takes you away, leaving everyone behind you stricken. Five years later you're back, and back to witness your girlfriend's engagement, and everyone else moving on. But you can't. You're still stuck five years back, when you thought the end was near... but hey. You only live twice, right?

Review: A HUGE thank you to the wonderful people at Atheneum Books for sending me this galley for review! John Corey Whaley. Remember that name, memorize the face (LOL) because John Corey Whaley is greatness itself. In fact, this entire book is greatness itself.
{Literally me when I finished reading Noggin??}

And where do I even begin to describe how much I LOVED this book? Is it the brilliant voices Whaley must have floating around in his head, that he somehow managed to capture perfectly on paper? Is is the never-ending humor, even through the soul-touching, heart-string pulling moments? Something about Noggin is magical, and it just might be all of the above.

I loved the eerily realistic feel of the science fiction aspect. Travis comes back to life after dying, which is pretty sci-fi to me. The super cool, super mindblowing part is that Whaley put Travis in modern day surroundings. Everything was spot on, and Travis acted exactly as a 21st century teenager would.

The storyline was ADDICTING. When you read Noggin, I have a feeling you won't be able to put it down. It moves at the perfect pace, and everything just flows so well. I can't help but gush and rant over just how wonderful Whaley's writing is. And it is truly awesome. The dialogue was engaging and Travis's jokes and charming personality had me like:
                                       
And what makes Noggin important is that it is MEMORABLE. Something about this books makes it stay in your mind. Travis is a unique and stirring character, put in a very moving and heartfelt story.

Conclusion: Both deeply meaningful and comically hilarious, John Corey Whaley's enigmatic new novel is full of bursting with (second) life. I think Noggin is a book that everyone needs to read to truly enjoy for themselves. And what the hey. Go out and buy a copy, for goodness sake! It's really THAT good :)

2 comments:

  1. This is the second good review of Noggin I've seen! I'm definitely going to check it out now. Added to my TBR! Thank you for the review~

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Kaniesha! I really hope you do get to read NOGGIN, and I hope even more that you'll love it as much as I did! :)

      -Jayne

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