Publisher's Weekly Review
Groth presents an insightful and rewarding road-trip story about 19-year-old Australian twins Perry and Justine Richter. Their mother abandoned them when they were children, and Justine has served as the caregiver for Perry, who is on the autism spectrum, ever since their father's death. While high-functioning Perry is intelligent and kindhearted, his anxiety can turn to panic, and his obsessions with sea monsters, Jackie Chan, and seismic activity can be a handful, even for patient, understanding Justine. Two years after their father's death, Perry has decided to move into a group home, so this two-week trip traveling through the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. and Canada marks the end of an era in their relationship. Along the way, they visit a lake that's allegedly home to the mythical Ogopogo, meet people with a range of reactions to Perry, and track down their mother. Told from the alternating perspectives of both twins, along with excerpts from their father's journal, Groth's story is uncommonly sensitive, his characters' emotional journeys as critical as their physical ones. Ages 12-up. Agent: John Pearce, Westwood Creative Artists. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
At the end of a siblings-only trip, nineteen-year-old Perry, an earthquake enthusiast with an autism-like "brain condition," plans to move to Fair Go Community Village to liberate his twin, Justine, from life as his caretaker--a change Justine does not want. Didactic, oft-repeated explanations of Perry's condition grow tiresome, but the twins' alternating narration portrays a well-intentioned, realistically flawed family. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Australian twins Perry, who has a brain condition, and Justine, who is his full-time caregiver, travel together to Vancouver. Justine and Perry's mother left when the two were children, and their father died of cancer just before they turned 18. For two years, Justine has served as Perry's sole caregiver, but after the trip, Perry will move into Fair Go, a residential facility their father chose before his death. Justine and Perry narrate alternating sections, interspersed with short passages from their father's journal. Between the journal entries, which recount moments from the twins' childhood, and the canned spiel Justine gives strangers to explain Perry's "inappropriate" behavior, a large part of the aim here seems to be introducing neurotypical readers to Perry's condition. The story unfolds with intimacy and affection, shown through the twins' special nicknames for each other and each sibling's desire to do right by the other. Perry's attempts to follow social rules and his enthusiasm for his interestsJackie Chan, seismology, mythical monstersare clear in the sections he narrates, but how he feels about essentially being apologized for every time Justine gives her spiel is unfortunately never explored. There's a warm family story amid the didacticism, but the sense that autism must be constantly explained and justified to outsiders is discomfiting. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Justine and Perry, 19-year-old twins, are on an epic trip from Australia to the Pacific Northwest. It has been a year since their father died from cancer, and Perry, who has high-functioning autism, is about to move into an assisted-living community. Justine has her own agenda; she plans for them to connect with the mother who abandoned the family when the twins were small. The twins narrate the story in alternating first-person voices, which work in delicate counterpoint to each other. Perry wants to move to the community to set Justine free, while Justine grapples with guilt and responsibility, as well as some truths about her family revealed in the journal her father left for her to read. Perry's portrayal is a convincing depiction of what the world might look and sound like to a person with autism. Justine is pragmatic and responsible, but she is also capable of humor and whimsy. Groth's positive, if heart-wrenching, story about love and learning when to let go will appeal to fans of character-driven novels.--Scanlon, Donna Copyright 2017 Booklist
