Althea & Oliver Spoiler Review
Summary:
Best friends since the age of 6, Althea and Oliver have a complicated relationship. Althea wants things to change romantically between them while Oliver just wants things to go back to normal, the only problem is that nothing is normal now. The two have to struggle with feelings, a disease, and changes in who they are. The story of Althea and Oliver includes many parties, concerts, punk houses, new friends, old friends, and hospitals in New York.
Spoiler Free:
I decided to go into Althea & Oliver not knowing anything, which was the best way to read it. Even after reading the book, I'm left with a hollow feeling from the ending. The adventures and the illness in the book was a breath of fresh air, considering I haven't read anything even similar to this story. Althea isn't your typical female lead, so hearing from another point of view was different and refreshing. Oliver was my favorite protagonist however, his case was a bit more interesting then Althea's but the story overall was different and well written, 4 stars from me!
Spoilers:
Since Althea & Oliver started with Oliver in the middle of an episode without explanation, it grabbed my attention. This was a book I couldn't predict anything in, which kept me on my toes the whole time trying to figure out where the story was going.
Althea tells the majority of the story, so we get to know her very well. Althea goes through a very large amount of character development. In the beginning of the story she was dependent on Oliver for everything, didn't have her own friends and was lost when he wasn't around. At the end of the story, Althea is able to let go of Oliver and treasure the last day she has with him. She is no longer relying on him for everything and learned how to live on her own. She has made her own friends and knows how to have fun.
Althea is a very reckless character. She has a lot of anger problems, and makes many bad choices. Her first very bad mistake was when she slept with Oliver while he was in the middle of an episode. I thought it was very wrong of her to do that when he didn't know what was happening. Althea knew he wasn't actually there and she just took advantage of him.
Her second big mistake was sleeping with Coby, then beating him up at school. Even though Oliver had just got mad at her for sleeping with him, the answer isn't to get drunk and sleep with someone else. She was also very unwise to beat him up at the school and get herself expelled.
She grew on me as I watched her struggle to make up with Oliver though. Once she made it to New York and met Matilda and the Warriors, her plot became fun to read about and amusing.
I wasn't expecting her to stay in New York with the Warriors at the end of the story, and let go of Oliver, I thought she would go back with Oliver and become in a relationship with him, but I was wrong. If I were to guess what happened to her after the ending, I would say Althea stayed away from school for a while, but found a side job to help pay for rent in some job that involved art. I would like to think she stayed in contact with her Father and Oliver, but not with her mother.
Oliver, our other protagonist, was my favorite. His KLS was a new thing to me, and I enjoyed learning more about it. The disease itself would be a nasty thing to have so he was a very brave and strong character for dealing with it as good as he did.
I loved the parts about Oliver in the hospital with Will and the other boys. Watching him and Will develop a friendship was amusing because of the non serious conversations they had in the hospital. I thought their trip out of the hospital was a great bonding time and I felt as if I was there with him. I would have liked to see more of Will.
Oliver was someone I could agree with easily, I was agreeing with him when he thought it was wrong of Althea to sleep with him while he was having an episode.
Oliver's character was very outgoing and sweet, I loved the Non Stop Party Wagon. He wasn't mean to Althea even though he knew she was in love with him, while he just wanted to go back to being her friend. Their relationship in the book was strained but hearing their old memories helped me see how well they did get along at one point.
I am shocked that Oliver is going home without Althea. I thought he would stick by her side and refuse to lose her from his life. If I were to guess what happened to Oliver after the story, I would say he went on to get his high school education and then a college education. I would like to think his KSL didn't go away, but wasn't so bad after some time, that he kept in touch with Althea and Will and became more confident.
Althea & Oliver isn't so much a love story as a discovering your feelings and who you are story. Oliver had to learn about his disorder and how he felt about Althea, while Althea had to learn who she was and how she felt about Oliver.
The story was a breath of fresh air, with characters who leave a mark on you, an adventure story, lots of keg parties, Minty Fresh concerts and a hollow feeling at the end.