About Life, the Universe and Everything
Author: Rebecca Rupp
Ages: 9+
Rating: 4/5
The book: Octavia's life is fun and interesting with her free spirited parents. They've brought her up to ask questions about everything and not to believe everything she's told. But life gets a lot more complicated when her mom joins a religious group that Octavia and her father don't understand.
Thoughts: This was a book with big questions as the title tells us. Octavia is resistant to her mother's interest in The Redeemers, and becomes increasingly worried as her mother drifts farther away from her family and seems to forsake the values she raised Octavia with. The people in her mom's new faith community are essentially good people, though Octavia is not shy about voicing her questions, confusion and often her frustration with the paradoxes the parishioners teach and the experience of life.
I liked that through the book Octavia though she is distrustful of The Redeemers, she is respectful of the religions and faiths of her friends and generally regards religion with curiosity -even if she doesn't really "buy" any of it.
Octavia has a logical and kind of scientific way of thinking about things. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be explained by her early admission that she has a sensory processing disorder where words for her have their own colours and smells. While this certainly added an interesting aspect to her perspectives, I'm not sure I understand the larger use of this detail for the story -if there is one.
Overall a good thoughtful book, with a realistic end. I would recommend this for a mature reader as the subject seems a bit heavy (it made me cry a little bit).
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