Looking Up by Stephan Pastis

What worked:

The best aspect of this book is the main character, Saint, as she shares her first-person quest with readers. She views herself as a knight, bravely defending the defenseless and protecting anything with a round face. She dons cardboard armor and helmet to face fiends, to meet “Daniels in Distress”, and to rescue pinatas from senseless beatings. Saint often begins sentences with something like “I probably shouldn’t have said this but…” causing readers to anticipate how she’ll finish her thoughts. With advice from her painted turtle life coach, Dr. Rutherford B. Hayes, Saint sets off to save the old parts of town from a modern takeover.

The surface-level conflict is Saint’s quest to save the town from a modern takeover, although there’s a simmering problem underneath that’s not clearly revealed until the story reaches its climax. She’s tremendously upset when her favorite burger place is sold and torn down almost overnight. An old woman sells her house which is promptly leveled for something new to be built. Saint is forced to take drastic measures when the house across the street is put up for sale. Daniel is a reluctant friend but Saint’s honor as a knight forces her to come to his rescue. The underlying issue will explain everything.

The story is full of colorful characters and language. The owner of the burger place doesn’t take special orders and he forces customers to leave when they’re finished eating. Saint still loves the place. The owner of her favorite toy store is an eighty-six-year-old curmudgeon named Muffin who always asks, “Homework finito?” before he’ll take kids’ orders. He’s able to find toys to match customers’ souls and sends them home saying, “Don’t slam the darn door, dingo.” Dr. Rutherford B. Hayes is insulted by his first name of Rock and he rightfully gets perturbed when Saint drops him from the roof.

What didn’t work as well:

The book seems like realistic fiction but there are elements that are fantasy, like a turtle that talks. Readers may be confused about what genre the book fits into but rest assured it will all make sense in the end.

The Final Verdict:

The story has some inconsistencies that make it hard to follow, as mentioned above. The climax reveals what’s actually happening although the series of events in the plot may still be unclear. Overall, I especially adore Saint’s character and recommend you give this book a shot.