It doesn’t feel like a coincidence to 17-year-old Calvin that he was born on the day the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published, that his parents named him Calvin, or that he had a stuffed tiger named Hobbes growing up. So when Hobbes shows up and starts talking to him one day and Calvin is subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia, Calvin thinks if he could just get Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson to write one more comic about a self-adjusted teenage Calvin without Hobbes that he’d be cured of his delusions. Dragging his friend Susie (also not a coincidence to Calvin that he has a friend named Susie) across a frozen Lake Erie, he hopes he can catch the incredibly reclusive Bill Watterson’s attention. But what’s real and what’s delusion?
This book recently won the Governor General’s Literary Award of Canada (which is a little like America’s National Book Award, in that it’s a BIG deal), and I can definitely see why. Not just your typical YA novel about the drama of high school (although it briefly touches on that too), Calvin feels more philosophical. The whole time we are wondering along with Calvin what is just in his head and what is actually tangible. And can delusion still hold truth?
The banters between Calvin and Susie are just as satisfying as in the comics, as they talk about things like reality v. truth, the existence of God, and the inner workings of the human brain–all while we’re wondering if Susie is even real. Hobbes also has some hilariously fantastic and apt one-liners–I think Leavitt captured the essence of his personality from the comics brilliantly.
So, this book is not only 1) witty, 2) intellectually stimulating, and 3) filled with delightful characters, BUT it’s clean too. It drags a little in the middle (although that might be because I’ve been reading way too many whiz-bang novels lately), but it was refreshing to finally read something beyond classic literary works that didn’t feel like it had to rely on shock factor to prove a point or sell itself. And if that’s not enough to sell you on the book, just know that the deranged mutant killer monster snow goons make an appearance.
5 stars.
BOOKBURGER 