Comments on: Okay For Now: The Gloves Come Off!

By: Mr. H

Mr. H — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:04:44 +0000

Sam, it’s interesting you mention the “So what?” Who cares?” questions in Doug’s narrative. Because those were the only parts of the book my 5th grade class hated. It got to be where they laughed and rolled their eyes each time he said it. I actually skipped them a bunch, when I noticed they were coming and didn’t take away from the narrative. Made it a much more affecting read aloud when they were more spread out.

By: Sam Bloom

Sam Bloom — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 19:31:14 +0000

I just finished a 2nd reading of this last night, and now I’ve gone through and re-read this post and all the comments. I’m trying to prepare myself for my Library’s Mock Newbery (this coming Thursday! Woohooo!) and I must say… although I’ve read some pretty strong contenders this year, this one has, to me, by far the highest highs of anything else I’ve read. I think the way Schmidt uses the Audobon pieces throughout the story is truly masterful – I was especially struck by Doug’s experiences redoing the wrestling unit in P.E. and the way Schmidt used the Snowy Heron (pp. 199-202) and Joel’s asthma attack and the Black-Backed Gull (285-287). I don’t think any other book I’ve read this year comes even close in terms of Theme, and those two examples are drops in the bucket. I feel like Schmidt really nailed the setting, too, and in many ways I found Doug’s narrative extremely effective – I think Mr. H already mentioned a few of the times when Doug said less with more, such as when he reveals what Principal Peattie said and when he finally shared his brother Christopher’s name.

But man… the problems with this book are almost starting to become too much to overlook. SO many characters were SO completely unbelievable and/or overwritten to the point of parody, I almost threw the book at the wall a few times. Principal Peattie – was anyone else picturing the principal from Lemony Snicket’s Austere Academy? He was that cartoonish to me, referring to himself in the third person over and over. Just ridiculous. I also had a major problem with several things that people have already touched on, so I won’t belabor the points, but let’s just say Lucas’s hiring at the school tops the list. Also, I don’t think anyone else has mentioned this, but how the heck did Doug become a strong enough reader to be able to read the names of the books in Mrs. Windermere’s house and therefore find Aaron Copland’s Autobiography? That seemed like a distressingly big stretch from someone who was at one point seemingly unable to read much of anything, but boy does it help move the plot along!

One other concern I had – and I admit I loved Doug and often found myself laughing at the hilariously deadpan way he looked at things – was with what I consider to be an overuse of the rhetorical question. So what? Do you know what that feels like? I counted 10 of those within a 5-page span at one point (YES! I’m the sort of freak who counts these things) and after a while it most definitely seemed to me to be overwriting the character.

Finally, we’ve talked about the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink ending, and I really feel like this book tried to do too much. The Broadway Play. The terminally ill girlfriend. The wheelchair-bound older brother’s return from Vietnam and inability to re-assimilate into society. It felt like it was stretched too thin.

By: Genevieve

Genevieve — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:07:49 +0000

I love it! Thanks for sharing that, Mr. H.

By: Mr. H

Mr. H — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:03:26 +0000

Okay, some info to share . . .

We wrapped up reading OKAY FOR NOW today, my fifth grade class and I. On Monday when we were approaching the part of the Broadway show and Doug found out he has to take Lil’s place and he’s pointing out that the Mayor is in the crowd and Jimmy Stewart . . . he slowly builds to letting us know that someone even better is in the crowd and immediately, before it is even revealed, half of my fifth graders were leaning forward eagerly in their desks shouting “Joe Pepitone! Joe Pepitone!”

They sure bought it!

By: Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 03:03:11 +0000

Monica, I agree on how you would differentiate the two. Do you think one approach works better? And if so, why? Is it a purely subjective preference? I think you can do the OFN approach successfully (of course, some are arguing that OFN does the OFN successfully; I’ll need a second read to agree or disagree). Anyway, I’d argue that Daniel Pinkwater frequently writes these kind of books that start off in a completely realistic fashion and then gradually degenerate into absurdity, but I don’t think Schmidt’s intention is ever to take it as far as Pinkwater does. When I compare OFN and DEIN in each of the categories–plot, setting, character, style, and theme–I find them fairly even, although I find OFN slightly more distinguished in terms of style and character, but slightly less distinguished in terms of plot. I know the discussion of OFN has focused on criticizing it in a vacuum, but I wanted to bring the discussion back around to Nina’s original intent–which was to compare it to another strong book which shared many similar strengths.

Eric, I do think that there is an element of backlash in this discussion where people are responding not so much to OFN itself as much as they are responding to other people’s reactions to OFN. I think Wendy articulated it best on a previous thread–

I’m understanding much better the frustration of some people a few years ago when some of us (me, for instance) treated the win of When You Reach Me as a foregone conclusion (or if it didn’t win, it’d be theft). I still feel that way about When You Reach Me. But Okay For Now? I thought it was good, but not astonishing. I’m not really a contrary person, but the extreme levels of championship for a book I might ordinarily have been championing myself instead have me looking for holes and crafting arguments.

I, too, like DEIN more than the Joey Pigza books. As we pick up more readers, it will indeed be interesting to see if we get some “experts” on those topics. I’m not sure I would agree with your third point, however. I think both books are comedies that have dark elements.

By: Eric Carpenter

Eric Carpenter — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 01:47:47 +0000

I read DEAD END IN NORVELT back in June and really enjoyed it. I liked it more than the Joey Pigza books but not quite as much as Hole in My Life.
I remember laughing out loud a number of times and was in absolute hysterics during the initial hand melting scene. I also remember wanting to see the tertiary characters more often. Jack’s friend (the quick-short girl) was an interesting character and I wanted to see more of her. Tonally, I thought the narrative was looser and gave me the impression that anything could happen at anytime.
The book felt more like a “how I spent my crazy summer” story than the much weightier OFN.
My take on the lack of complaints regarding DEIN:
1. Not the clear front runner so no backlash (yet?)
2. Our little world has more experts in baseball and broadway than experts in either personal aircrafts or N.I.R.A. subsistence homestead communities.
3. DEIN is more of a comedy and therefore gets more leeway.

I lent out my copy so I don’t have it here to reference and it’s been a while since I read it but I think DEAD END makes my top 5 along with HIDDEN, TROUBLE WITH MAY AMELIA, POINT MOUETTE and of course OFN. Still to read: A MONSTER CALLS (starting tonight), BIGGER THAN A BREAD, BREADCRUMBS and CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT.

By: Monica Edinger

Monica Edinger — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:15:54 +0000

I’m not Eric, but I think that Gantos establishes a sort of hyper-reality from the beginning whereas Schmidt starts out in what seems more conventionally-realistic. So all along situations seem over-the-top with Gantos whereas it is at the end of the Schmidt that it feels clearly dreamlike. Gantos has a bright sort of wildness all the way through while Schmidt has something more subtle happening if indeed, as some are suggesting, there is a sort of fairy tale aspect to the novel. So head-to-head seems problematic as each is doing something so different in their unreality, so to say.

By: Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:09:55 +0000

Eric, have you read DEAD END IN NORVELT yet? If so, how do you think it compares to OKAY FOR NOW? I would be interested in a general head-to-head comparison, but also specifically in the way that Gantos, too, establishes a tone that allows for the stretching of credibility. And yet we’ve heard no complaints about it, perhaps because not enough people have read it yet, or perhaps because we really are unfairly picking on Schmidt. What’s your take?

By: Eric Carpenter

Eric Carpenter — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:35:17 +0000

Forgot to mention another instance of foreshadowing on page 231:
[upon learning that Mrs. Windermere is writing a stage adaptation of Jane Eyre]
“Can you imagine anyone buying tickets to Jane Eyre? Can you imagine Joe Pepitone buying tickets to Jane Eyre? Me neither.”

By: Eric Carpenter

Eric Carpenter — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 16:56:19 +0000

I reread OKAY FOR NOW this past week. I tried to read it with the most critical eye I could muster. What I came away with was an even deeper appreciation for the book. On this, my fourth reading, I tried to see the story turns the way KT and Jonathan had. I looked for reasons to question the events but it was hopeless. Doug’s voice and Schmidt’s plotting once again sucked me all the way in. Only once was I consciously pulled out of the narrative. (when on page 300 Mr McElroy says “I guess actors aren’t so important after all. You can’t imagine an actor ever becoming president of the United States, for example”). –i hate it when authors wink at the reader like this.
On this rereading OFN I noticed Schmidt carefully preparing the reader for the events that follow. We sees Doug’s dad’s propensity for kindness at the company picnic when he holds his wife’s hand. From page 158: “You know how good an orange Dreamsicle tastes on a blue fall day when you’re full of grilled chicken and your mother is laughing a real laugh like she used to and once you look over and your father is holding her hand like they haven’t in a long long long time?” Of course this line is immediately followed by: “Until Ernie Eco came and she walked away”. Doug’s dad didn’t change overnight like many commentators claim. He was once good and maybe can be again but Eco plus booze creates a quick handed monster. We see another subtle change in the dad after Doug witnesses Eco wearing his Yankee’s jacket. The dad clearly feels terrible but is also very clearly afraid of his “friend” so not being able to solve real problem dad begins to withdraw himself even further. I’m not saying Doug’s dad is anything close to a good guy
but we (and Doug) do not really know what kind of courage it took to make that call to the police, or how long Doug’s dad struggled with the decision to do so.

The story is about Doug discovering that his initial expectations are usually wrong just as everyone around him (other than his mother) has false first impressions about him. For example when Doug first sees the men playing horseshoes at the picnic he quickly writes the game off and calls the participants chumps. This is Doug’s defense mechanism. In chapter 1 he claims he doesn’t draw because he’s not a chump. Later he goes to the library to draw but not to read the books because he’s not a chump. Babysitting is something else Doug (and Christopher for that matter) ends up enjoying even though it’s for chumps. Doug expects James Russell’s father to be a slight/effeminate man because he plays the flute but when he meets him he sees that Mr. Russell is as a huge man. Doug struggles throughout the book to overcome the prejudices he has learned from his father and brothers. He is so worried about how they will perceive his actions (and what the consequences might be for said perceptions). Doug assumes theater is for chumps and there is no way the ultimate “anti-chump’ Joe Pepitone would ever be caught dead in a theater.
What is ironic of course, is that Doug is forever complaining about how others perceive him. On his first walk through Marysville he meets Lil in front of the library. Lil treats Doug like a delinquent because he talks to her like Lucas would and also because his face is sporting a newly received bruise courtesy of dad’s “quick hands” on page 13. (while it’s never stated explicitly on this reading I began to think that Doug might actually have a black eye during his first weekend in Marysville which would explain both Lil and Mrs. Merriam treat him like a “skinny thug” when they first meet him.