Favorite Book #2

The World of Henry Orient.

My mom's been bugging me to read it for years, and last year she actually went out and bought it. I read the first few chapters, thought it was wicked-boring, and tossed it aside.

This year, though, I needed a book for a report due Friday, so I reluctantly picked it up. I finally finished it, and here's the report:

The World of Henry Orient was written by Nora Johnson and takes place in 1950's New York City. The two main characters are Marian Gilbert and Val Boyd, two thirteen-year-old eighth grade girls. Marian's parents are divorced, and she lives with her mother ("Wimpole," as Val calls her) and Boothy, her mom's friend. Her life is plain and boring, unlike Val's. Marian spends her mornings surviving Norton School and her afternoons eating butterscotch sundaes at a local drugstore. Val, on the other hand, has rich parents whom she rarely sees, and she lives in a boarding house with an artistic couple, the Hamblers. She mysteriously leaves Norton every day before school is let out to see her Dr. Braintree, her psychiatrist. She's also very fond of playing the piano.

Despite their differences, Val and Marian become best friends. Trouble arises though when they go to see a concert by pianist Henry Orient at Carnegie Hall with Ms. Gilbert and Boothy. Val finds herself obsessed by Mr. Orient, and, not able to keep her crush secret, finds out as much as she can about him with Marian. They learn where he goes after concerts and in his free time, what is his favorite place to go for fruit cups, and much more. As they find these facts and put them in a "Bible," problems with Val's mental health and within their friendship become bumps along the path, but nothing prepares them for Val's mother's complete disapproval of Val's obsession and "the Bible".

The climax begins when Val and Marian decide that Val has to meet Henry Orient in person to free herself of her guilt and obsession and to get her life back under control. They go through New York City at night alone, going to Henry's favorite places, his concert, and eventually, to his apartment building.

One of the themes of this book was that not all problems are black and white but are often a shade of gray. Val is often confused, troubled, and occasionally depressed throughout the book. Marian gets annoyed at Val's moodiness but has to try to keep a level head to help her friend. She doesn't know if she totally understands Val and her problems.

Although the plot took awhile to get off the ground, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I didn't especially find the first few chapters very invigorating, but after they went to the first concert, things became really interesting. I thought that I was really able to connect with Marian, though, which I really liked. I know what it's like to want to help one of your friends, but whenever you try, they find a way to be difficult. My favorite part of the book was when Val and Marian drew Val on cardboard, cut it out, and burned it, therefore "burning away Val's demons." One of my friends and I did something similar once, so I was able to relate.

I would recommend this book to any teenage girl who's confused about her school life, friends, herself, and where she fits in. The way that Nora Johnson wrote Val and Marian makes them so lifelike and realistic, and you can quickly see yourself as either one of them and your best friend as the other. In that way, it was almost like a nonfiction memoir. Although it doesn't exactly give any answers to problems that many girls have, it puts those problems into just enough words to fill thirteen chapters.