Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho is a coming-of-age novel set in the mid 1990s. Althea and Oliver have been best friends since they were kids. Now they’re in their junior year of high school.
Oliver has Kleine-Levin Syndrome, also known as ‘Sleeping Beauty Syndrome’. He falls asleep at random times of the day. He can be asleep anywhere from a week to three months. This makes it hard for Althea, because she never knows when her best friend will wake up and be able to hang out with her.
One night, Althea makes a terrible decision which puts her friendship into turmoil.
Oliver goes to New York to participate in an experiment to hopefully find a cure for his syndrome, without telling Althea.
When Althea finds out, she goes on a road trip to New York, but she’s too late – Oliver’s already asleep. She finds a group of spontaneous people in their mid 20s to room with and hang out with in the meantime. During this time, she learns what it truly means to be an adult.
I absolutely loved this book. I wanted to read it slowly to savour its beauty, but at the same time I had to find out how it ended.
Although I don’t agree with the terrible decision Althea made, it was necessary because it effected the rest of the story.
I loved the style of writing. It was very descriptive, but wasn’t overdone. The descriptions of the various settings were very vivid. The characters were created with depth. They were realistic because of their flaws. Although the ending wasn’t what I thought it would be, there’s a chance for readers to make their own conclusions about the future of the characters.
I would recommend this book to anyone who’s 15 years and older, and loves reading books about boy/girl friendships.
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