I think a lot of things are weird. Okay, not really, but my husband would say I do. Maybe “weird” is just my word for things that make me wonder, things that catch me off guard or seem to be coincidences. And this week, the thing that keeps popping up on my radar (and thus, making me exclaim it’s so weird!), is a book called BORN WEIRD, by Andrew Kaufman.
Today alone, I saw this book reviewed in two magazines and at least three websites. That must mean I’ll have to read it (I know what book I’m going to purchase for the train trip at the end of the month). So many instances of Born Weird is just plain, well…weird.
It’s a quirky book, from the sounds of it, about a family of five siblings with the surname Weird. They are each born with a strange character trait, called a “blursing” (a blessing and a curse, of course) that starts out good and becomes horrible. The grandmother to the lot claims she will lift the blursing from each sibling, providing each of them gather together on the day she has predicted she will die. This is a difficult task as each child grows up and moves to various parts of the world, suffering from their cursed lives and never quite knowing how to overcome their problems.
Honestly, I can’t wait to read this book. Kaufman is known for his strange and yet plausible characters, and this sounds like it lives up to the rest. While some of the reviews complained that his characters didn’t quite allow readers to connect enough, sometimes it’s just the unique writing that draws a reader to a book. Plot over characterization, as long as it’s unique, is enough sometimes. We’ll have to see.
Are you planning on reading this book, too? How weird!
I hadn’t heard of this book, but I just requested at my local library & can’t wait to read it!