This is brilliant, very funny, life affirming and heartwarming without being twee or predictable. Its one of those stories that if I write a synopsis here it will sound very dark and probably depressing. This is a synopsis lifted from Waterstones.com (they can say it way better than I can so why not)
A tale of an unexpected friendship, an unlikely hero and an improbable journey, Alex's story treads the fine line between light and dark, laughter and tears. And it might just strike you as one of the funniest, most heartbreaking novels you've ever read. Alex Woods knows that he hasn't had the most conventional start in life. He knows that growing up with a clairvoyant single mother won't endear him to the local bullies. He also knows that even the most improbable events can happen - he's got the scars to prove it. What he doesn't know yet is that when he meets ill-tempered, reclusive widower Mr Peterson, he'll make an unlikely friend. Someone who tells him that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make the best possible choices. So when, aged seventeen, Alex is stopped at Dover customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the passenger seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he's fairly sure he's done the right thing ...
The Universe According to Alex Woods is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. It is one of those books you want to be reading constantly as the world Extence has created is just so good to be in. Alex has a very wry, dry sense of humour and comes across as quite naive at first, though you soon realise he is just very to-the-point and is pretty savvy. Definitely one for anyone who has ever thought the rest of the world is crazy.
Thanks so much to Hodder & Stoughton for my copy!
Currently reading Penelope by Rebecca Harrington, not so sure on this one, very American...
