The Inexplicable Logic Of My Life

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life was like riding the emotional roller coaster of feels. I must admit that I started off really not loving this Saenz novel. I was just rolling along, not too impressed with much of anything. But, of course that roller coaster can only go up my friends!

Highways are nice and paved, and they have signs telling you which way to go. Life isn’t like that at all.

I absolutely loved Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe. It is one of my favourite books of all time. Therefore, I had to read another Saenz book. The inexplicable logic of my Life is the most heart-warming, rip out your feels at the same time kind of book. It centers around Sal, his family and his group of friends, who are all dealing with changes and the effects of challenging situations in their lives.

“We didn’t know where we were going anymore. We’d been so sure of ourselves, but now we were lost. Lost like we’d never been lost before.”

Firstly, this is a slice of life book. No plot exists apart from that of the characters’ lives. They are the forefront of the book. If you don’t like them then this book might be trash for you. BUT! Saenz does an amazing job at inner monologue. This is what I really, really (really, really, really) love about his work. Being so fantastic at posing questions and having thoughts from first person POV makes me so invested in the story and keeps it moving. At no time did I find it boring or dragging because there was always something to think about or ask myself about. Which made me want to continue reading. (Yes! even without the plot)

The characters: Sal - I loved Sal. He was a sweet, confused boy. He had such a big heart and so much love for the people around him. I have one little thing that really irked me. Like just now, in your last year of school? You suddenly figure out you want to punch people?? arhh okay? It really annoyed me and it did not need to be there. It did nothing for the story.

Sam - At times I loved her. I felt that I could relate to her home situation and then she would go and be extremely obnoxious. She could be such a wonderful friend to Sal but then so horrible. An example is the white boy thing. Yeah, he is really white but, his identity wasn't. He grew up more Mexican then her. It was like she had to lord it over him that she was “more Mexican” because of her colour.

“She had a lot of empathy. Maybe that’s why she liked all of those bad boys. They were outcasts. It was like she was picking up strays and taking them in…I found it wrong to fault her for her good heart.

Fito – Cinnamon roll.

These three were just great friends, and it stays that way!

Great representation without it being the main character. I loved the fact that the dad was Gay. And that Sal was adopted by him but it did not mean that Sal was confused about his sexuality. It just was.

Mr V was a splendid dad. I felt like he was talking to me when he was parenting. Everything that he said was just mwah! Perfect little mascot of what a parent should be represented as. PLEASE BE MY DAD!!!

As I mentioned earlier I started off not particularly liking this book. At the start the characters seemed really immature and the writing too. I felt like I was reading something from a year 8 creative writing class, (Not to say year 8 students can’t write). It just felt rushed and the language felt really basic. In saying that, around the 50 page mark I could not put it down! I started to really appreciate the writing for what it is. It showed me that simple and straight foreword language can sometimes be the most beautiful and thought provoking out of anything

WFTD = READ!

One of my favourite quotes comes from Sam “we all have something to be sad about. We’re not pigs, you know. We’re not supposed to live in our own shit.”