Oliver Loving by Stefan Merrill Block (Review by Caitlin Winkler)

Rating: 5/5 *

“There is another universe/ where we do not need a single word/ no need to try to converse/ when our every thought is heard.” I very much wish that my thoughts were heard by the people around me as I was reading this novel because then they would have all immediately wanted a copy of their own. I have read many books over the year and this book just topped the list as my favorite. The variety of emotions that I experienced while pouring through the story of Oliver Loving cannot be satisfactorily described- at least not in so short a space.

I want to tell you that this is a story of a boy named Oliver Loving, but that would be inaccurate. Sure, Oliver is the boy in the title, but you would not have a story if you didn’t also have all of the other characters like Eve, Jed, Charlie, Rebekkah, Hector, and many many other characters that really brought the story to life. One of the main themes that really struck me is how, as human beings, we often seek to attribute meaning, the “why”, to something unexplainable. I feel this is particularly relevant to our current events.

“Once upon a time, there was a boy who fell through a crack in time.” This extraordinary story was about so much more than just a boy. It is about hope and loss and love, about family and hardship and hate, and about a small town struggling to move forward while still holding on to the past. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a beautifully written, heartbreaking story that will leave you speechless.