Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho – a Review

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Description:
What if you live for the moment when life goes off the rails—and then one day there’s no one left to help you get it back on track?

Althea Carter and Oliver McKinley have been best friends since they were six; she’s the fist-fighting instigator to his peacemaker, the artist whose vision balances his scientific bent. Now, as their junior year of high school comes to a close, Althea has begun to want something more than just best-friendship. Oliver, for his part, simply wants life to go back to normal, but when he wakes up one morning with no memory of the past three weeks, he can’t deny any longer that something is seriously wrong with him. And then Althea makes the worst bad decision ever, and her relationship with Oliver is shattered. He leaves town for a clinical study in New York, resolving to repair whatever is broken in his brain, while she gets into her battered Camry and drives up the coast after him, determined to make up for what she’s done.

Their journey will take them from the rooftops, keg parties, and all-ages shows of their North Carolina hometown to the pool halls, punk houses, and hospitals of New York City before they once more stand together and face their chances. Set in the DIY, mix tape, and zine culture of the mid-1990s, Cristina Moracho’s whip-smart debut is an achingly real story about identity, illness, and love—and why bad decisions sometimes feel so good.

Review:

Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho is a fast paced coming of age novel that bore some of the most intricate, lush details of any book I have ever read.

The story is about friendship – a friendship that spans ten plus years. A friendship so deep and profound that there isn’t much that one does not know about the other. They have been best friends since they were six years old. Now that they are in high school and older, feelings begin to bloom – feelings that neither one of them have ever felt before.

Do they dare to cross that invisible line that may change everything forever? Or do they fight to keep things the same, in the midst of all the changes happening around them. Their friendship compliments each other. They complement each other. You can feel just how true and real the friendship is.

But just when you are getting to know each characters, life gets complicated for Oliver when he starts to fall asleep for weeks at a time and is ultimately diagnosed with Kleine-Levin Syndrome. This disease propels Oliver into a deep sense of hopelessness and sadness that is palpable.

Althea isn’t happy that Oliver keeps having these sleep episodes and when they become more frequent and seem to be lasting longer than the previous ones – she realizes that as hard as it will be, she must tackle the world head on – without Oliver.

During one of Oliver’s sleep episodes, Althea makes a decision that will change their lives forever. Propelling them head first into a world of uncertainty. I found Althea to be quite selfish and all consuming. Yet it is completely relatable if you have ever been around teenage girls, or been a teenage girl.

Oliver is sweet and funny and compliments the harshness that at times seems to be Althea. As the feelings grow between them – the story becomes thick with emotions. The disease that Oliver is diagnosed with left me wanting to know more. And research just exactly what this disease was and does. Truly remarkable that this is real and people do suffer from it.

Althea’s anger and emotions begin to overtake her. The scene becomes set, but will they both decide to make the next step together, or will one decide to go out on their own and make the next step happen? This is where I want to say this is a classic friendship turn romance love story – but it doesn’t quite work out that way.  

The teenage language is factual, the life and exploits are convincing. The one thing that truly set this book apart from others is that it is real. It is plausible. You can understand – the turmoil and tragedy that becomes these teens lives. At times I did not agree with the parents’ behavior in this book but it just added to the emotional onslaught that encompasses you throughout the journey.

I would recommend this book to anyone that loves explicit and absolute details. Wonderful writing!

Reviewed by Erin

Copy provided by Publisher