Overall, what did you think of The One-in-a-Million Boy?
Created: 05/01/17
Replies: 28
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3442
Join Date: 12/01/16
Posts: 292
I loved this book! The author did an excellent job making the characters relatable and real. I worked with special needs students and their parents in the past, and I also had a grandmother who lived to be 101 years old, so I could easily relate to the story. I especially loved the ending when Ms. Wood let the reader discover what the boy was thinking (and doing) before he tragically died. I have already recommended this book to everyone I know.
Join Date: 04/07/12
Posts: 265
I agree, I loved this book! I read a lot and have to go through too many books before I find one like this. I have already loaned my copy to a friend and also recommended it through Goodreads to another friend. Although starting out with the death of a young boy is sad, I loved the way the other characters felt about him and how their lives intersected. It also made me think about the randomness of life - the boy's life ended after 11 years, but Ona lives to 104 and beyond.
Join Date: 09/04/16
Posts: 110
This book has become one of my favorite!I loved this book! I did not want it to end. The characters were well developed. I am still missing these characters! I want to know more about the boy, did Belle stay married to Ted,how is Quinn doing in his new role, and I want to hear more about Ona's life. I wondered if she died alone. I think she did not. I think by that time Quinn would know how to be near Ona and still do his new job. I also wonder if there was more to Belle's sister in reference to her personality. I aslo wondered if Belle's father ever changed.
I also wander about Ted and his kids. What path did his kids take?
So many other things I wonder. I wish this novel never had to end. I plan on rereading this book a few times.
Join Date: 10/15/14
Posts: 363
When I first began this book, I felt somewhat disoriented. It seemed as if the way the book was "laid out" was a bit confusing, and I was not sure I wanted t continue. But I did, and I am ever so pleased that I did. The shape of this book seems a bit different than many/most I have read, and the more deeply I read into it, the more engrossed I became. Characters continue to develop the deeper into the plot one reads, and the plot itself pulls the reader in through to the last page. I loved this book. It is a wonderful read - worth a million, to be exact!
Join Date: 10/12/11
Posts: 256
This book is a winner in all areas--plot, theme, characters, style, setting. It is an absolutely wonderful and memorable read--so much so that I recommended it to my book club. We will be discussing it later this month--I can't wait, it will probably be a one-in-a-million meeting for us!
Join Date: 07/13/16
Posts: 14
Join Date: 02/08/16
Posts: 514
I really liked this book because it wasn't a run-of-the-mill story. I liked the inter-generation factor. I felt the book really revealed each character through the continuing adventures and interactions between them. One might think the boy is in the shadows, but he's really the star. He puts the story in motion and is revealed throughout the book. Loved the ending.
Join Date: 02/20/13
Posts: 103
Join Date: 01/21/17
Posts: 14
I truly enjoyed the book. Am trying to decide if I want to recommend it to my book club. I had a period where I was a bit tired of Belle. Having said that, the authors descriptions of her grief made it all physically real. You could feel the characters, you attached to the characters. I too was a bit disoriented at the beginning but it didn't take long to settle in. And maybe some of that disorientation was intentional. Certainly her characters were somewhat disoriented in their lives.
Join Date: 05/19/11
Posts: 93
Join Date: 04/26/17
Posts: 258
To me a great book is one that stays with me and whose characters seem like people I could meet. I love every flawed character in this novel. I didn't want the story to end. I was impressed with the way that the author carried the character of the boy throughout the book, it never seemed forced. He seemed just as real as the living characters.
I will be recommending this book to my book club.
Join Date: 03/03/12
Posts: 251
Join Date: 09/15/16
Posts: 53
I really enjoyed reading this book. The story and characers kept my interest. I think the author did a good job by making the boy an unseen presence. He never had a name so you didn't have any name associations to people you know with a certain name. During the interviews with Ona on the tape recorder I had to surmise what the boys questions were based on her answers. The book was more realistic than some I have read. Although the book had a happy ending, it showed people getting through grief and moving on. The author also did a good job with using humor, mostly with Ona's answers. It would definately make a good gift!
Join Date: 10/25/12
Posts: 83
This book is why I love reading. It had a great story line, beautiful writing, great characters,originality, and a little magic mixed with love, tears and laughter. I read this book at a deliberately slow pace, because I didn't want to leave the characters and did not want the story to end. This is a novel I will recommend again and again and I will keep a copy on my bookshelf. This novel sits on the shelf with the best books I have read.
Join Date: 09/04/16
Posts: 110
I am still missing these characters. I hope these sad feelings stop soon. For me, this is a hard discussion, because I love all the charcters even Amy and Dad. When I read or make posts it like opening an wound. Too better help you understand it. My past was dancing with Grim Reaper we were best friends and I met his family. In a few months, I will be turning 40. Which reminds me. This book needs to ne on the list of novels women should read turning 40.
I would also recommend this book for one of the college English classes. Not high school, since most of still need to grow up.
Join Date: 11/18/14
Posts: 70
This was a special one for me. I fell in love with each and every character and wiped tears from eyes as I reached the last page - a perfect ending for a beautiful book about loss, life, growing old and making the most of our time here on earth. The One-in-a-Million Boy is in some ways similar to A Man Called Ove and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - same feel and warm-heartedness. But it is also unique and one-in-a-million. Plan to recommend it to all my reader friends and this may also be my book club pick for my neighborhood book club.
Join Date: 04/27/17
Posts: 2
I loved this book! You felt like you knew all the characters and understood why they felt the way they did. How each personality helped the father come to accept and get to know his son even though it wasn't after the son's death. Once he was able to do that he started to look more deeply into the other relationships in his life and his career.
Join Date: 04/10/13
Posts: 78
For me, I thought the book was a little slow and for that reason I had a hard time picking it up and finishing it. While I liked Quinn, I really didn't feel involved with the characters. Maybe it's just me but it wasn't on my list of favorites. I guess I would rate it a three out of five.
Join Date: 03/13/17
Posts: 37
I absolutely loved this book. Each character was a striver in his/her own way. Ona, encouraged by the boy and helped by Quinn and Belle, first dreamed about setting records in the Guiness Book of World Records. She then actually lived all of her dreams with their help. Wonderful image of Ona, the boy coaching her, lifting bean cans to keep in shape and outlive the other centenarians.
Join Date: 08/01/15
Posts: 66
I really loved this book! Monica Wood did a great job interweaving multiple stories. Her characters became people I could relate to. I was able truly feel their emotions. I often found myself reading over some of her words because I marveled at her exquisite writing. I agree with Kellilee that it is a beautiful book about making the most of our time on earth. It was uplifting and made me realize once again how words can transform lives. I am a teacher and mother of five and I have recommended this book often to my children and friends.
Join Date: 05/06/17
Posts: 3
Join Date: 05/29/15
Posts: 460
Join Date: 03/12/14
Posts: 10
I so loved this book. I am recommending it to my book club for next year. It is interesting that when I decided to make my posts that a world record was broken for the oldest person to skydive at 101. I loved reading all the records at the end of each chapter. We may grow old as soon as we are born but the journey becomes so much more interesting if we keep doing things. This book embodies this concept.
Join Date: 08/16/11
Posts: 30
I fell in love with Ona and the boy by the end of chapter 3. Interesting that the author never names the boy! In spite of the tragedy of the boys death I would not say this was a sad book. Loved Wood's use of the boys taped interviews with Ona, where he does not speak on tape and you infer his questions from her answers. That said, I do not think this is a book to listen to, you need to read it.
Join Date: 05/20/17
Posts: 7
I really, really liked this book. To me, it is primarily a story about Quinn's awakening to people around him and to himself. He's pretty dense, really. He has a wife who loved him, an amazing son, a professional life that he enjoys. But he just goes through life without really being in touch with all that. We come to know Ona as an interesting person, the boy as a really interesting kid, Belle as a loving mother, but we see Quinn as aloof and uncaring. When he meets Ona, he just wants to get the chores out of the way. In his clueless-ness, he's like a lot of us. We don't really see people around us. But through the boy's death, he wakes up - he gets to really see Ona and Belle, and the boy's scrap book lets him see his own life. The author develops all the characters so well that we come to know and admire them at the same time that Quinn. It made me want to look around me - who are the Ona's and boys in my life? Who would enrich my life if I was open to them? I think that's the point, and the book was really effective.
Join Date: 06/07/17
Posts: 76
I'm coming in late to this review and agree with so many of the comments I won't repeat them in mine. Would just add that I liked that the book was not so predictable--I expected more predictability. Also, I assumed this sweet boy would disappear as the story unfolded once I knew he had died, but he didn't, and we got to enjoy him throughout. Anyone of you who likes this book will also l-o-v-e The Last Bus to Wisdom.
Join Date: 06/03/14
Posts: 17
Thanks to Book Browse for recommending this book. I love it more and more as I read and I'm sure I won't sleep tonight until I finish it. I'm on a book-choosing committee for my reading group and will certainly push for everyone to read it. Ona and Quinn are both such compelling characters, and the author's unique method of unveiling the plot adds to the enjoyment.
Join Date: 10/16/16
Posts: 40
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