A Face in Every Window

A Face in Every Window

You know how they say never to judge a book by its cover? Well, that is what I find myself doing before most books I read. Whether it is an assigned book as a class, or a choice book we have to read on our own. I usually look forward to books with a catchy cover or an interesting title, and those are the books I look forward to reading. Books with a boring cover or a title I don't find interesting are usually the books I dread reading the most. I don't know why I do this, I guess I just can't really help myself, but most of the time my opinion and views on the book change before I finish it. This happened to be the case for A Face in Every Window by Han Nolan.

First off the title didn't really catch my attention too well. Secondly, the cover seems to be a bunch of pieces of abstract art put together, which also didn't really appeal to me. However, at the very top it says, "author of the National Book Award winner Dancing on the Edge." This was the tiebreaker between the books I had picked out to choose from. I figured if she has won a national book award that this book has to be somewhat decent, and thus my journey began.

When I first started reading the book I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It showed a functional family in their daily routine. The story starts out with Mam, Pap, Grandma Mary, and JP (James Patrick) all living in a home. Grandma Mary was the one who kept everything in line. Pap is mentally challenged but seems to catch a grasp of a few things. Mam seems to be antisocial, while her son, JP, strives for good grades. His main reason for this is not to fall into the shadows of his father. However, this all changes when Grandma Mary dies. Now that the backbone of their family has passed away, they have to start over from scratch and hope that their family doesn't get ruined. It doesn't help that Mam makes them move while doing many other crazy things. She lets people come and go as they please at their new house. She also leaves with Dr. Mike to Switzerland for vacation.

As the book progressed I found myself more and more interested in it. I am not quite sure why I became fond of this book. It might've been the fact I could easily relate to a lot of the topics and situations myself, or it could've just as easily been how the story was written, how the author seems to throw one unexpected thing after another at the reader. Whatever it was, it kept me going (which not every book does)!

One of the things that I could really relate to was the mentally challenged father. My dad is not mentally challenged at all, however my grandma is. I could understand how the characters felt at certain times and how they seemed to treat Pap at others. I also could easily relate to how other people saw Pap, how some seemed to take advantage of him, and how others seemed to talk about him behind his back. A quote that really stood out to me was when Pap said, "James Patrick, down there, I want to know, will Erin always be my wife?" (Nolan 172). This quote stood out to me because it shows although he may be mentally challenged he realizes what is going on. He is the only one who actually says something about the situation (Dr. Mike and Mam going off to Switzerland together for vacation). It proves the stereotype wrong that all mentally challenged people know nothing about anything. I felt really involved in the book almost any time Pap was in the scene. His presence always seemed to remind me of my grandma.

I found many strengths in Han Nolan's writing. She was able to use dialogue very effectively and also at appropriate times. She also seemed to respect mentally challenged people and shows the reader how kind and loving they are capable of being, just like any other human being. Both of these things really stand out with the conversation between Pap and JP about how Grandma Mary is dead and Mam is away:

"Hey, Pap," I said.

"I got to stop talking now." Pap sniffed up the snot running out of his nose and shoved his hair out of his eyes. His lips had a blue tinge to them.

"It's cold up here, Pap. Why can't you talk? What are waiting for?"

"I'm waiting to see her."

"Who? Aunt Colleen?"

"You know, 'cause I can see her, but not her."

I took an exasperated breath. "Pap, that made no sense at all. Who can you see, who can't you see?"

Pap raised his chapped hand up in the air as though he were feeling something in front of him. "Me mam is here, of course."

"You can see Grandma Mary?"