All The Things That Could Go Wrong

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Let's start with the characters before moving into a traditional review. Alex has OCD, but he is not on any medication or seeing a therapist with any regularity. His parents worry about the expense of a therapist, which is understandable, but Alex's OCD is problematic, causing him to be frequently late for school and damaging his hands and his school supplies from multiple washings. It also appears that his teachers are indifferent or ignorant of his condition. The tag line for this is book is "there are two sides to every story." I thought this would involve some sort of revelation on behalf of both characters and while there was a slight change in perception, it wasn't a POW! Whoa! kind of moment. It sort of came as a meh and didn't really come to resolution.

Like Alex, Dan’s life is not straight forward either. Since his older brother left home, everything in Dan’s world feels different. Dan plays out his frustrations at school, messing around in class and finding easy targets at school to bully with his friends. Blur” is the latest single from All The Things That Could Go Wrong and has arrived alongside a music video directed by Iris Kim. The visual places Orlando in the thralls of nature as he explores an aesthetically-pleasing campground in the woods.

Oftentimes, it is easier for us to sympathize with the victims of bullying at school, but have we ever thought about what was going on in the bully's mind that caused them to take antagonistic actions as a form of their defensive shield. All The Things That Could Go Wrong will also feature the previously released singles “Someone Will Love You Better” and “You’re Just Drunk.” The record is said to explore a coming-of-age story through the lens of the rising Gen Z musician. Conceptually, Orlando will explore themes of anxiety, his rise as a social media star, and how overthinking impacts interpersonal relationships. Now let me introduce Dan. Things aren’t easy for Dan either. His brother has left and everything has changed. His only option is to take out his frustrations on easy targets such as Alex. Both boys’ are tested when their mothers, oblivious to the tensions at school, arrange for the boys to meet up at weekends. This book is set in year seven so the characters are on the younger side, but I feel like this book can be appreciated by all ages. It does mention Game of Thrones in at one point, nothing in depth, but simply stating the TV show, and personally, I'm not sure I would have really known too much about adult TV shows when I was that age (though I could be wrong), which I'm presuming is the target audience (though I could be completely wrong here as well), but now, slightly older than what I presume is the target audience I feel like that mention really added to the characters and who they are, which is why I feel it can be appreciated by older readers. The portrayal of OCD was excellently displayed, and I did enjoy the snippets of how frustrated the OCD made Alex, yet he had no way to control it. While Alex did overcome a lot in the novel, he also didn't have a magic cure just because he helped Dan with a boat, which i found very refreshing as this could have easily swayed that way.

On the single, the Toronto-born pop musician recounts the story of encountering an unexpected savior at a time when it felt as though everything was going wrong. I feel this is the right time to mention this book had so many references. One that really stood out to me was the Horrible Histories reference, which I fully appreciated. I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, but if you are then, you 're in for a treat, since this book is practical filled with Stars Wars (though not to an extent where it's boring to those who don't like Star Wars. I didn't necessarily understand some parts of it, but it didn't drag on, if you get what I mean) since Alex (and Dan) are Stars Wars fans. I don't see this as encouraging bullying but realising a truth that even bullies are humans. They don't necessarily bully 'just because we're bad so that's why'. Most bullies don't go round thinking 'Better bully someone today because I'm the bad guy and that's what I do!'. They have their reasons, whether we like them or not. This made for a realistic and interesting story, and two characters that I could engage with. The actual plot line of Alex helping Dan with the raft took about one third of the book to get to, however, I really felt like that first third really helped to build the characters up and their relationships with each other, and show the extent of the bullying before diving in to Alex helping with the raft. It was definitely not boring in any way and I think it was rather important it was done this way.The two boys’ mums are old friends and unaware of the issues at school between Alex and Dan. Much to the dislike of both boys, the mums arrange for the pair to spend time together at the weekends building a raft. As time goes by with the boys working together on the raft, a new empathy begins to develop and their relationship begins to grow, albeit shaped by a mixture of tension, confusion and developing compassion. Alex has contamination OCD which is so debilitating that he is often unable to leave the house. Immediately, I warmed to him and resonated with him completely. The writer does a fantastic portrayal of what it’s like to live with such a crippling mental illness by highlighting the awful thoughts that go through Alex’s head on the daily. I found this incredible. What’s more is that despite his illness, Alex is completely his own person with hopes and dreams and hobbies and a life which I thought was remarkable. A lot of writers often make the mistake of allowing their characters to become their illness. Alex has OCD, he is not OCD. I found the unwillingness to tell an adult about the bullying (from Alex) particularly frustrating. Being a Mum myself I always encourage open communication, and fine it so frustrating to hear that a situation cannot be communicated because XYZ may happen. Then again, I am not a 12 year old with social anxiety, I am a 27 year old with social anxiety and a very strong opinion. A moving, humane, funny portrait of two very different boys discovering what connects us all' Kiran Milwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink and Stars

Both main characters feel genuine and rounded, that mix of joy, horror, anger and confusion that can only really come with high school and puberty. I didn't like one more than the other, I just found them both fascinating. One thing I really liked about this book was how it portrayed the bullying, and how one can feel like their trapped. Of course, if you're being bullied, you should tell someone, but this book really shows how it's not as easy as it seems, and that simply saying those words and trying to get help sometimes doesn't feel possible, which is another reason it was so hard to read in that sense. You really want Alex to get the help and you watch him struggle with it, but he just can't do it.

Table of Contents

Bottle spinning like my hat / I already lost my friends / Under all these strobe lights / Thanks for savin’ my night,” he sings. “I can’t remember what I said / Prolly something I’ll regret / ‘Cause we’re drippin’ in wine, yeah / We must’ve had a good time.” I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a relaxing and easy read, which is something that I needed. Throughout the story, I felt sorry for Alex. He was getting bullied to the point where he was scared to report to any adults around. Then, as I learned more about Dan and what happened to his brother, Ben, I started to understand his aggressive attitude. Now that the profile of mental health has been raised, it is important that books like All The Things That Could Go Wrong are published. It gives children a clear understanding as to what others go through and helps break the long-standing stereotypes. It also dispels many beliefs about bullies and challenges the reader to look behind the outward projection of a person. In this vein it very similar to Goldfish Boy which I recently reviewed. One notable aspect of this novel is the growth between the two characters, not just as friends, but understanding each other. Such as Dan realising how hard it would be for Alex going through all his OCD thoughts. And Alex, trying to save Dan even as a detriment to himself.

I think the easiest way to start this review is to say I loved everything about this book. I was a little worried going into it as I really enjoyed We Used to Be Kings by Stewart Foster, which I believe is an adult book, and was worried that maybe I wouldn't enjoy this one as much. But I did. Perhaps even more than We Used to Be Kings. Then the boys’ mums arrange for Alex to help Dan with a raft he was building with his brother. Ever since Ben went to prison, Dan has had angry outbursts and spends all his time in a lonely cave by the seafront, working on Shooting Star. The last thing he wants (and the last thing Alex wants) is for “that weird kid at school” to come and mess it up for him. Not only do we have the pleasure of reading about family life, but also the most precious friendship between two boys. I feel like this is a very overlooked aspect in modern literature so it was excellent to see. Dan and Alex are very different people but the way they interact is amazing. Especially since Dan is one of the main bullies of Alex, having this pressure on them only added to the intrigue. We get to see Dan's side of the story, though, and we do end up feeling for Dan too. Dan has issues and he has reasons - or so he thinks - for bullying. It’s amazing! Such a bold idea to have a character like Dan… you pulled it off brilliantly.’ Ross Welford, author of Time Travelling with a HamsterI think Stewart Foster has written a great book here, I couldn't put it down and read it in pretty much one sitting because I just kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. I occasionally wonder if US teenage fiction has a tendency to be a few strides ahead of UK teenage fiction in terms of how it handles difficult subjects in a really readable way. Then a book like All the Things That Could Go Wrong comes along and I realise that's not the case at all, because this book is just that; well written, engaging, occasionally a difficult read (in a good way), but overall just a good story, full of heart, with two great characters at the helm. Dan is set up as a secondary protagonist, and the reader is supposed to sympathize with him because his older brother is in juvenile detention for stealing a car and robbing a store. Dan bullies Alex because Dan hangs out with bullies at school, bullies who aren't really friends to him, either. While Dan is a fully fleshed-out character in this story, the other bullies - the Georges and Sophia - are just random evil flat characters. Alex has OCD, and as if that wasn't awful enough, he's getting badly bullied at school. Dan's the guy who's bullying him, but he's not really sure why he is apart from the fact Sophie says he should. The only thing Dan does know is that he really misses his brother, Ben. All the Things that Could Go Wrong follows both Alex and Dan's stories as they just try to make it through the days. While Alex fights his OCD and his bullies, Dan fights his loneliness and all the anger that he seems to have inside him now. You might think this is going to be a cut and dried story of the nice boy who's being bullied and the bad boy who's doing the bullying, but it isn't.