reply

Chapter 18: Hypermotherly (Arlene Pulaski)

The first multiple-narrator novel I recall reading was a weird little 1970s counterculture YA book from the “bell-bottom bildungsroman” genre. GRK was just getting started when this particular book was published in 1977—and multi-POV wasn’t yet part of his author’s toolkit. Plus, his kid-vs.-the-grown-up-world stories ran on humor, never full youth-in-revolt gloom.

Still, a line from the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books review of that book is exactly how I would describe GRK’s 2020s-era work: “The writing style is smooth, as are the transitions from chapter to chapter, and the characterization is perceptive.”

That is my thought after Arlene’s chapter, in which her character development is as important as the plot development she narrates. She’s perceptive and empathetic (although calling herself “motherly” towards Noah is not exactly a perceptive grasp of the role he’d most enjoy assigning her!). The multiple-narrator structure in HYPERGIFTED really pays off by giving us a fuller view of characters beyond Noah and Donovan.

Anyhow, that’s my long-winded way of saying Chapter 18 made the case for multiple narrators. This Gordon Korman guy might have a future.

@Owen: Excellent read on Arlene and her relationship with Gator. She is clearly the mature half of that coupledom. And yes—that is exactly the question I need answered: What happens now that AIDAN self-destructed?!?