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Loading... The Beautiful Miscellaneousby Dominic Smith
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Very readable. A nice, quick-paced style. The book started off strong and then dipped a bit as it went on. The troubled father-son, unrealistic expectations, disconnect theme is not original, but the main character Nathan makes it work. It is a book with sentences that make you think about life - if you are inclined to do that. :^) (  ) princessbabs | Apr 8, 2009 |  This book needs a new cover. It's a pretty cover, but it really needs something not so dorky looking so it would attract more teen readers! Nathan Nelson is raised to be a genius but doesn't quite fill the shoes. His dad is a famous physicist and his mother is a gourmet cook and woman of the world (from her living room, at least). Nathan is a good child and does everything his dad wants--science camps, trig tables, and spelling tests. But in junior high, Nathan purposely misses the winning question of a science bowl. And says no more. But then, in high school, Nathan is in a horrible car accident and injured. He now has synesthesia and sees colors and smells scents when he words. The result? An awesome memory. Nathan can recite TV dialogue perfectly and memorize phone books. His parents put him in The Institute where he can learn to "utilize" his new-found talent. While there, he finds love, finds friendship, and grows up. This is quite the coming-of-age story. Nathan deals with his father's death in a difficult way, and the reader really grows to like Nathan. He's a good kid, even if his thoughts are a little messed up. (  ) sarahthelibrarian | Nov 9, 2007 | This was one of the best books that I have read in such a long time. I started reading it a few months ago, but stopped after I got to a certain part. It hit me a little too close to home so I had to stop. But I couldn't put it out of my mind. This book wont change your life, it wont inspire you to greatness, but it will make you feel something. I can't describe it, but it will make you feel something and I think that feeling is the most worthwhile thing you could get from this book. I can't wait to read The Mercury Visions... (  ) spazzy | Oct 6, 2007 | I felt quiet and introspective by the end; never cried, but I definitely cared. ( )1  spyderella | Jul 31, 2007 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0743271238, Hardcover)NATHAN NELSON IS THE AVERAGE SON OF A GENIUS. His father, a physicist of small renown, has prodded him toward greatness from an early age -- enrolling him in whiz kid summer camps, taking him to the icy tundra of Canada to track a solar eclipse, and teaching him college algebra. But despite Samuel Nelson's efforts, Nathan remains ordinary.Then, in the summer of 1987, everything changes. While visiting his small-town grandfather in Michigan, Nathan is involved in a terrible accident. After a brief clinical death -- which he later recalls as a lackluster affair lasting less than the length of a Top 40 pop song -- he falls into a coma. When he awakens, Nathan finds that everyday life is radically different. His perceptions of sight, sound, and memory have been irrevocably changed. The doctors and his parents fear permanent brain damage. But the truth of his condition is more unexpected and leads to a renewed chance for Nathan to find his place in the world. Thinking that his son's altered brain is worthy of serious inquiry, Samuel arranges for Nathan to attend the Brook-Mills Institute, a Midwestern research center where savants, prodigies, and neurological misfits are studied and their specialties applied. Immersed in this strange atmosphere -- where an autistic boy can tell you what day Christmas falls on in 3026 but can't tie his shoelaces, where a medical intuitive can diagnose cancer during a long-distance phone call with a patient -- Nathan begins to unravel the mysteries of his new mind. He also tries to make peace with the crushing weight of his father's expectations. The Beautiful Miscellaneous is an extraordinary follow-up to Dominic Smith's critically acclaimed debut, The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre. This dazzling new novel explores the fault lines that can cause a family to drift apart and the unexpected events that can pull them back together. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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