Hello, Universe
Erin Entrada Kelly
Greenwillow Books
Fiction, CH General Fiction
Themes: Diversity, Girl Power, New Age
***+
Description
Shy Virgil Salinas is used to feeling like a misfit, even in his own family; aside from his beloved grandmother, nobody
else seems to understand him, teasing him for not being boisterous or outspoken or athletic. He can't even say he's an
excellent student to compensate, because he struggles with his multiplication tables - something the class bully Chet never
lets him forget (though Virgil's hardly the only target for that brute). But his biggest failure by far, the one that
haunts him and shadows his days even as summer break starts, is the fact that he couldn't even screw up his courage to say
one word - not one! - to Valencia Somerset. His life couldn't possibly get any worse... until it does, and he ends up stuck
in the bottom of an old well, his cell phone broken, and nobody even knowing he's missing.
Kaori Tanaka inherited the second sight, but doesn't know from where; maybe it was one of her past lives, because it sure
wasn't her straight-laced parents. She's trying to start a side hustle counseling other kids about their problems, but so
far Virgil is her only client. When he comes to her for help, she tells him to gather five unique stones so she can do a
reading. (What kind of reading, she doesn't know; it usually just comes to her in the moment.) But when he doesn't return,
she gets another feeling... a feeling that something is very, very wrong.
Valencia Somerset doesn't have friends anymore, but she's happy that way - at least, that's what she tells herself. Being
deaf hasn't hindered her education, but it seems many kids find it too much work to remember how to talk to her, or that
even hearing aids don't mean she can always understand every word, especially in noisy places. But she has her nature
journal and the small patch of woods near her home, the name of a deaf saint she read about once (so she has someone, at
least, to talk to, even if her family isn't religious), and even a stray dog, Sacred, she's taken to feeding without her
mother's knowledge. But when a persistent nightmare keeps her awake for several nights in a row, she gets desperate enough
to call a number she found on a business card at the supermarket - the number of a self-proclaimed psychic who only deals
with kids like her: Kaori Tanaka.
In one fateful afternoon, these lives will come together, and everyone will be changed.
Review
The premise is interesting, and the characters feel authentic, all wading through that nebulous age when a grown-up
future is looking more plausible (despite how frustratingly obtuse so many adults seem to be) yet where magical thinking
is still very much alive and well. The story itself isn't bad, but I kept expecting an extra kick, an extra spark,
something to make it a little more; it always felt like that spark was just a little ways away. Even by the end, that
spark hadn't quite struck.
In rotating chapters, the kids each tell their sides of the story. Virgil feels like an utter failure; but for his
grandmother and her stories (and his pet guinea pig Gulliver - though he just learned that guinea pigs are social
animals, so he feels like he's even failed his beloved pet by not having a friend for it), he'd have nothing at all. His
mother and father and perfect twin brothers all call him "Turtle", because he's still hiding in his shell... as if his
preference for silence is one more thing wrong with him. The fact that he couldn't even talk to the one girl he felt
like he could befriend, Valencia, only cements his certainty that he's doomed to a life of loneliness. The only kid he
feels he can talk freely to is Kaori, who honestly does try to help, even if some of her "second sight" insights are
nebulous at best. As for Kaori, she is firmly convinced she's somehow different and special, a throwback to some older
time, though most of her insights would probably be called "cold reading" in an adult psychic, following reactions and
cues from the client to get closer to what they need (or want) to hear (not that she's intentionally deceptive; cold
reading can often be subconscious, and can still lead to real insight). Whether or not she really has talents is left
ambiguous, as there certainly seems to be slightly more than coincidence going on. Valencia has long ago come to terms
with her deafness, but understandably still gets frustrated at times by people; even her own mother can't quite seem to
figure out how to deal with a deaf child, often erring on the side of overprotectiveness. She doesn't set out to make
any friends, telling herself she's fine with her own company (and the company of her private saint, part of an
indistinct yearning for spiritual answers that her secular family hasn't noticed or addressed), but finds herself
pulled in when Kaori's worries about Virgil spill over into their meeting. There are also a couple chapters about the
bully Chet, though they mostly serve to offer minor explanations about how he came by his behavior (as usual, handed
down from family); he was rather underused, honestly, and didn't really undergo much of a transformation or change to
justify his page time. Virgil, in the bottom of the well, undergoes a personal ordeal and epiphany reminiscent of his
grandmother's folk tales from the Philippenes, while the others change in smaller yet equally significant ways (save
Chet).
As mentioned before, the plot is decent enough, and wraps up well, though with some few things unanswered or unresolved.
I just kept thinking that it was building to something just a little more than expected, something truly special. It was
this subtle feeling of dissatisfaction, plus a sense that the changes weren't quite finished (or, in Chet's case, hardly
even started), that led me to shave a half-star off the rating.