Header image with four cats and the text: Pussreboots, a book review nearly every day. Online since 1997
Now 2025 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA+ Art Portfolio Purchase Art WIP

Recent posts


Month in review

Reviews
Archie vs Predator by Alex de Campi
Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti by Bailey Cates
Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett
Carson Crosses Canada
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
Giant Trouble by Ursula Vernon
The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson
I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
It Might Have Been Worse by Beatrice Larned Massey
It's a Book by Lane Smith
Kleine Katze Chi #1 by Kanata Konami
No Place for Magic by E.D. Baker
Nooks & Crannies by Jessica Lawson
Lumberjanes, Volume 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson
Mystery of the Midnight Rider by Carolyn Keene
Paper Girls, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan
Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
Road of Her Own: Women's Journeys in the West by Marlene Blessing
A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett
Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella
Song of the Lion by Anne Hillerman
There Are No Cats in this Book by Viviane Schwarz
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
Winnebago Graveyard #1 by Steve Niles
Winnebago Graveyard #2 by Steve Niles
Woof by Spencer Quinn
Yours Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick

Miscellaneous
August 2017 Reading Sources
August 2017 Reading Summary
Books on Books
Crossing the Cornfield and Saving the World: The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater
Greenglass House by Kate Milford: A road narrative deconstruction
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (September 04)
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (September 11)
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (September 18)
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (September 25)
The maze isn't for you — except when it is

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish


Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


The Goldfish Boy: 09/30/17

The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson

The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson is a middle grade mystery similar to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003) by Mark Haddon. Matthew Corbin, who has been living in his room, afraid of the germs around him, is the best eye witness the the disappearance of a toddler. With the help of two other kids on the block he begins the task of finding him.

The book's blurb describes Matthew as suffering "from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder." And while he shows the symptoms of OCD it should be noted that he hasn't been diagnosed. He does have a therapist but this mystery is taking place in the early days of his treatment and there's no formal diagnosis. This is important because the story is as much about Matthew and his family trying to understand and cope with his situation as it is a missing child story.

The title comes from a mocking nickname the next door sister gives him, as she sees him watching the street from his window every day. She and her brother are staying at their grandfather's house while their mother is in the United States on business. He is ill prepared for watching two young children and is more interested in caring for his garden than his grandchildren.

Matthew works with the girl across the street who likes to wander into the cemetery at the end of the lane, and a former best friend who has turned bully in the last few years. Rather than making their collaboration a forced one by adults or circumstance, this one is more organic. For whatever their individual motivations, all three want to find the missing toddler. They each have skills and knowledge that can solve the mystery.

Over the course of the summer while Matthew is trying to find the boy, trying to survive his compulsions to clean and his fears of certain times of the day, we're given insights into what led to his self induced isolation.

Five stars

Comments (2)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:


Comment #1: Monday, October 02, 2017 at 12:37:50

Beth @ LIbrary Chicken

In fairness to the blurb, he does get diagnosed towards the end. But a lot of the beginning is spent with his parents and him not understanding what is going on or how to deal with it. I did find the "cause" and "cure" of the OCD more simplistic, but the details of the effects on his life and the daily routines were powerful.



Comment #2: Monday, October 02, 2017 at 20:21:00

Pussreboots

The conclusion seems to be in the hope that he'll make progress now that's he's been diagnosed and has managed to work through the worst of it on his own. I might have been a little harsher with my review if I had read it after reading Finding Audrey which starts well after the main character has been diagnosed and has been working with a therapist for a number of months.

Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2025 Sarah Sammis