Book ~ "Fruit: A Novel About a Boy and His Nipples" (2004) Brian Francis

From Goodreads ~ Thirteen-year-old Peter Paddington is overweight, the subject of his classmates' ridicule and the victim of too many bad movie-of-the-week storylines. 

When his nipples begin speaking to him one day and inform him of their diabolical plan to expose his secret desires, Peter finds himself cornered in a world that seems to have no tolerance for difference.  Peter's only solace is "The Bedtime Movies" - perfect-world fantasies that lull him to sleep every night. 

But when the lines between Peter's fantasies and his reality begin to blur, his hilarious adventures in overeating, family dysfunction and the terrifying world of sexual awakening really begin.

Peter is 13-years-old and is overweight (205 pounds).  He is picked on at school and his only friend is his 14-year-old neighbour Daniela, the daughter of Italian immigrants, who has a potty mouth. He spends a lot of time alone in his room (with a chair jammed under the doorknob so his mother can't barge in) and on his paper route.  He is always searching for a "boy friend".

At night, he has "Bedtime Movies" in which he fantasizes about Mr. Hanlan (a man on his paper route), male teachers and fellow male students. 

Peter monitors how much weight he's gained by how far his finger can go into his belly button.  One day he realizes his nipples have grown to the size of small cherries and he tapes them down to hide them because he's embarrassed.  I will admit that I was a bit hesitant to read this book when I read that his nipples speak to him but it surprisingly worked.

This is the second book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  It is written in first person perspective in Peter's 13-year-old voice.  I found the language, tone and actions true to his age.  It was at times funny.  As a head's up, there is swearing (lots of F-bombs by Daniela).

I liked the diverse characters.  Peter's not into sports and would rather learn calligraphy than baseball and home ec. rather than industrial arts.  He has a list of things he wants to accomplish this year ... the first and last things are to lose weight.  He is scared of Daniela but loyal to her.  Peter's mother is going through the "change" and is very emotional, which doesn't help since she is so overprotective as it is.  His dad works shift work and just wants peace.  His sisters are always fighting ... one of them feels smug because she works at Peoples Jewellers.

This story takes place in Sarnia, Ontario, in 1984 ... it was a fun reminder about Woolco, rugby pants, Jane Fonda workout videos, Olivia Newton John records, etc.  It was definitely a different time.

You should check it out if you are looking for something different and quirky.

Book ~ "Natural Order" (2011) Brian Francis

From Amazon ~ Joyce Sparks has lived the whole of her 86 years in the small community of Balsden, Ontario. “There isn’t anything on earth you can’t find your own backyard,” her mother used to say, and Joyce has structured her life accordingly. Today, she occupies a bed in what she knows will be her final home, a shared room at Chestnut Park Nursing Home where she contemplates the bland streetscape through her window and tries not to be too gruff with the nurses.

This is not at all how Joyce expected her life to turn out. As a girl, she’d allowed herself to imagine a future of adventure in the arms of her friend Freddy Pender, whose chin bore a Kirk Douglas cleft and who danced the cha-cha divinely. Though troubled by the whispered assertions of her sister and friends that he was “fruity,” Joyce adored Freddy for all that was un-Balsden in his flamboyant ways. When Freddy led the homecoming parade down the main street, his expertly twirled baton and outrageous white suit gleaming in the sun, Joyce fell head over heels in unrequited love.

Years later, after Freddy had left Balsden for an acting career in New York, Joyce married Charlie, a kind and reserved man who could hardly be less like Freddy. They married with little fanfare and she bore one son, John. Though she did love Charlie, Joyce often caught herself thinking about Freddy, buying Hollywood gossip magazines in hopes of catching a glimpse of his face. Meanwhile, she was growing increasingly alarmed about John’s preference for dolls and kitchen sets. She concealed the mounting signs that John was not a “normal” boy, even buying him a coveted doll if he promised to keep it a secret from Charlie.

News of Freddy finally arrived, and it was horrifying: he had killed himself, throwing himself into the sea from a cruise ship. “A mother always knows when something isn’t right with her son,” was Mrs. Pender’s steely utterance when Joyce paid her respects, cryptically alleging that Freddy’s homosexuality had led to his destruction. That night, Joyce threatened to take away John’s doll if he did not join the softball team. Convinced she had to protect John from himself, she set her small family on a narrow path bounded by secrecy and shame, which ultimately led to unimaginable loss.

Today, as her life ebbs away at Chestnut Park, Joyce ponders the terrible choices she made as a mother and wife and doubts that she can be forgiven, or that she deserves to be. Then a young nursing home volunteer named Timothy appears, so much like her long lost John. Might there be some grace ahead in Joyce’s life after all?

Voiced by an unforgettable and heartbreakingly flawed narrator, Natural Order is a masterpiece of empathy, a wry and tender depiction of the end-of-life remembrances and reconciliations that one might undertake when there is nothing more to lose, and no time to waste.

I liked the writing style of this book. It was quick and drew me into the story.

I wasn't crazy about the way the story bounced around, though, about Joyce's life. I don't mind flashbacks but this was all over the place with different events in her life. Sometimes it wasn't obvious right away at what point in her life we're at.

Joyce Sparks isn't likeable at all. Just out of high school and living in a small town in Ontario, she falls in love with Freddy and is blind to the fact that he is gay. After he leaves town for bigger and better things, she settles and marries Charlie. Charlie just seems to plod through life and is uninteresting. They have a son, John, who becomes the focus of Joyce's life. John spends his early years as a mama's boy before rebelling and becoming a secretive unlikeable jerk. But he doesn't know any better because Joyce was all about hiding the truths and expecting that John will turn out "normal".

Joyce becomes a bitter alone old woman living in a retirement home ... I didn't feel a lot of sympathy for her.

Despite all this, I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading other books by this author.