Donorboy: A Novel (Alex Awards (Awards)) (ISBN 1400062772)

Donor Boy - an easier read than you think:
Its the first book I've picked up in a long time and I don't consider myself a novelist or a professional critic like some of the critics below think they are. That being said I enjoyed the book. I liked the style in which the story was presented, ie. the text messages, emails, im's, journal entries and transcripted sessions. The story behind the death was supposed to be ridiculous, it was a tragic event, they are hardly ever normal. The characters where realistic and your only getting what they commited of themselves to print. That way you can assume the rest. Its not a grief story, a gay story, a childhood drama story, a growing up phase story in its usual sense of the category. It is a feel good story. I found myself not able to put it down till I was done and in the end smiled. Good enough for me.

A totally Delightful Book:
It had me cracking up. It's a perfect mixture of tragic and funny. I even like the fake that it's told through emails and AIMs messages. So it's heartwarming, big deal? And who cares if you know how it ends? It's still a unique, well written enjoyable story that will have you laughing in bits and crying in others.

wonderful exploration of grief and healing in the life of a mid-teen:
i stumbled onto a more recent book of halpin's, called a long way back, and was blown away by his writing. that book said, "by the author of donorboy" on the cover. so, i recently downloaded this book to my kindle, and read it on a couple plane flights. dude is a great writer! (i've since downloaded the rest of his books.) donorboy tells the story of a 14 year-old girl, beginning shortly after the deaths of her two lesbian mothers in a car accident. "donorboy" is, well, the sperm donor who is, technically, her father, but has never even met her (he was an old friend of one of her moms'). but donorboy - who is in his young thirties and never married - decides to pursue custody of her, and wins. when the story begins, the two aren't even talking at all (only because she will not talk to him). halpin uses a creative collection of journal entries, emails, text messages, and meeting transcripts to piece the unfolding story for us (it's a brilliant literary device that would have felt forced in the hands of a lesser author). we get an insider's glimpse into the pain and tiny steps of healing in the mind and heart of a young teen girl. we see a father who is flailing and failing and trying and patient and second-guessing his own every move. it's an aching story of healing and restoration. in a long way back, halpin wrote extensively about grief through a middle aged female narrator (the sister of the man in grief). in this story, he tells a story of grief through the voices of a 14 year-old girl and a 30-something guy. fascinating. the guy certainly has an inside track on what grief really looks and feels like. and healing too. a great read for older teenagers, parents, and youth workers. but just a great read for anyone, really.

The funniest tragedy I've read in years:
So the context may not be exactly mirthful - a teenaged girl suddenly orphaned and sent to live with someone she doesn't know and doesn't want to know - but the treatment of the situation is delightful and frequently laugh out loud funny. Halpin manages to make the story funny without being frivolous, and appropriately sad at times, without being maudlin. Both my husband and I also enjoyed the non-traditional literary format of the book, and managed to follow along without much effort in spite of our luddite-like lack of versatility in the mores of IM and text messaging. (Dare we admit to such? Alas, it is true, we email and make telephone calls but that is the extent of our modern technology consumption.) Interesting themes in the landscape of the story include multigenerational parent-child relationships, coming of age themes played out various ways, loss, and ways that people resolve loss and move forward. Both of us found we were unable to put the book down once we started it, and ended up staying up way too late to finish it, but we'd do it all over again. Enjoy!

Interesting Title:
Honestly, I picked up the book because the title really interested me. I began to read it and was about to put it down until I discovered the main character Rosalind was going vegetarian (since I am a vegetarian I felt I could relate). I am so glad that I didn't put this book down! It is a very fast read, and the format through e-mails and such make it more interesting. I was only upset because there were a lot of untied ends that had me screaming "What about ---?" or "what happened between ---- and ----?" I felt like the book could have been a little bit longer, and the ending was only the climax, not the resolution. Maybe a sequel will come out??