Ninety Eight Point Eight

I started reading this book. I found a line at the beginning that caught my attention. I underlined it. Kept reading because I thought Oliver was a kid with some issues. I thought his mom was not taking care of him. I was so sure about what was going on. I felt like I understood everything. I thought Oliver's mom was a person who locked him in a room.. Then I found out that was not what was happening at all. The author, Krista Candela let me think that for a while. She let me build up all these ideas in my head. Then she changed everything. I went back. Read the book again. I saw that Krista Candela was not trying to trick me. She was just telling the story in a clever way. Oliver was talking about things that his body did without him thinking about it. He would grab things without wanting to. He would think about his treasure bucket all the time. When he killed a squirrel he started to feel hungry. It was like he was an animal or something.. He was thinking about all this stuff like a human. That was really interesting to me. I want to talk about Sherry, one of the characters in the book. Some people might think she is a bad person but I do not think that. If you look at her life you can see why she is the way she's. Her mom was mean to her when she was little. She made Sherry do pageants and things like that. Sherrys body and mind got messed up because of it. She has a lot of problems because of what her mom did. When things do not go her way she gets really upset. She does not just get mad she falls apart.. The people around her they did not help her. They just let her do whatever she wanted. Krista Candela does not make Sherry just a bad guy. She makes her a real person with problems. There is a part in the book where it talks about Sherrys mom and how she was mean to her. It is really sad and hard to read. You can see how Sherry became the person she's today. Her mom loved herself more than she loved Sherry. Sherry had to be perfect all the time. When she was not perfect her mom got mad. Sherry learned that she had to be what her mom wanted her to be. That is why she does all the things she does. I think the book is trying to say that we should not just think Sherry is a person. We should try to understand her. We should look at her. See why she is the way she is. Krista Candela wants us to see Sherry as a person, not just a bad guy. Sometimes Sherrys thoughts sound a little silly. Some people might think that the part where she dances to music while doing something is too funny. They might think it is much.. I think it is supposed to be that way. Sherry keeps saying that it is not her fault and it gets a little old.. I think that is the point. Krista Candela is trying to show us what it is like to be around someone like Sherry. It is, like being stuck in a loop. Sherry just keeps saying the things over and over again. Oliver is different. He is honest. Does not know how to lie. When he kills the squirrel he says he feels good not bad. He is trying to figure out who he is and where he fits in. He is an animal who has been put into a human world. He does not understand what is going on. I think this book is really good. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. I think people should read it if they like books that make them think and feel things.

This book is hard yet important to read. It tells the story of Oliver, a boy with autism who is locked in a basement and abused by his mother. The title refers to his normal body temperature 98.8, the one thing that shows he is still human, still alive, still real. The narrative is told from two perspectives. Oliver's voice is simple and heartbreaking as he tries to understand the world through a locked door. His mother's voice, justifying her cruelty as love and protection. What makes this book so powerful is how the author shows the slow erosion of a child's spirit. The mother's chapters are written with a clinical coldness that is no less chilling than any scream. It is disturbing and real. If you have experienced abuse, this book may be hard to face. But it validates what many survivors know. Those abuses often comes wrapped in the language of love and care. It shows how people can become invisible, locked away not just in basements but in systems that ignore them. This is a necessary book. Read it. Let it teach you what to see.