Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Primary language spoken at home." Noah makes a face. "What does this mean? Our primary language? Gideon's? That's sort of why we're here..."

"Um, it's under family, so I'm guessing ours?"

"Well..." Noah lowers his pen. The paperwork has defeated him. "What's our primary language?"

"English? ASL? Physical affection?"

"Food?" Noah says.

"Food's a good guess."

He picks up the pen. "I'm writing food, comma passive aggressive."

"Good call."

This was my first Hannah Moskowitz book, and it definitely won't be the last :) And don't judge this by the summary or cover. I did and i was blown away by the dysfunctional/heart wrenching family drama.

The book spans 4 summers. Chase 'Everboy' Mcgill lives for the summer. He and his family go to their house by the beach each summer, where our story takes place. There's noah, the big brother, who's always running away, no matter how much chase wants him to stay, there's claudia, the little sister who acts the oldest of them all, there's gideon their young, deaf, lovely brother, and then there's lucy, the newbaby.

I particularly loved their interactions with Gideon. It was eye opening at times, the way it was shown. I can't imagine having a deaf brother/sister, or all the troubles faced with them. Big families I do understand, however. Which was why I found it weird about the dad hating Noah, and the not learning sign language and stuff. And yeah, they regretted it later on, but how can you not 'talk' with your son at all? Don't you feel like scolding him or telling him stories or stuff at times?

There are few books i've read from a male POV, and i guess this one of maybe two in which i can actually relate to the main character (except for the whole Noah-Melinda-Chase thing, i found that pretty disgusting).

Now I'm the oldest of four kids, the youngest still a toddler. I sympathize a lot with Chase, there's so much work parents give to older kids sometimes, though not as much as the parents in the book did, i doubt my parents would leave their kids around that much.

All in all, it was a wonderful read which i'd definitely recommend!

Concerning the ending, i saw it coming, but i still cried. It was just too sad :( Gideon was my favorite character.

PS: Someone remind me to write "Food" as my language on any form from now on. Fits perfectly.

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