Where I Don't Understand the Hype

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More like 2 or 2–1/2. And I expected to love it.

All the people who said it was a feel-good novel have to explain why the first 200 or 250 pages are such a feel-like-shit novel. I would not have finished if I didn't know there had to be a happy ending. Thank god there was that saving grace. Up until then I could barely read it.

Poor Linus is mocked and hazed and bullied from the beginning to the end (still described as rotund even in the last chapter), treated as if he's unlikable and too heavy to ever be attractive and so nebbishy and awkward that he deserves such treatment. His coworkers, his bosses, their secretary, his neighbor lady, all the kids on the island, all the people in town--they all insult him and mock him. Even threaten him, without any sign of humor. And Linus takes it. He doesn't have a funny response or a winning philosophical take on their derision; he just takes it. He lets them comment on getting sweaty or out of breath or for being in some other way foolish without any pushback. The author painted him so pathetic--passing out in fear when he reads a file, for example--that I found it hard not to agree with them all.

And he barely gets better. He remains awkward through almost the whole book, spouting rules, being afraid, showing nothing positive except the barest tolerance, without any sign of wit or wisdom or anything resembling a personality. The fact that the kids come around on him is inexplicable. Once they do, he does at last a few signs of being moderately kind and sympathetic. Nothing impressive, nothing virtually any case worker wouldn't have done, but at least it's something.

It isn't until near the end, when they all go on a field trip into town, that he shows the least gumption. I enjoyed that part, when he finally was portrayed not as a loser deserving their derision but as a dynamic character starting to know what he cared about. Also, the love story (not really a spoiler if you read the back of the book) is sorta sweet, but it comes out of nowhere. Arthur is portrayed as a good guy, though more like a too-patient, skinny, nerdy boy scout troop leader than any kind of love interest, and Linus is a net negative to this point. I'm glad they find each other, but it felt as unearned as the kids' approval.

I haven't mentioned the Willy Wonka world-building. It's like a fantasy version of England or the US, but seen in a funhouse mirror. All the detail is left out, so it feels super sparse. It made it feel more like a fable than a fantasy novel.

To sum up, I disliked the book and would have DNFed it if so many people hadn't proclaimed it super cute. The benefit of the doubt and a bit of rounding earns it a passing grade from me, but now I feel like I should have gone with my gut...

Anyway, this is a beautiful novel for other folks. It didn't work for me. However, I am an outlier, so... go figure.

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