Six Impossible Things

Six Impossible Things by Fiona WoodSix Impossible Things by Fiona Wood
Publisher: Pan MacMillan Australia
Number of pages: 263
My copy: paperback, borrowed from Chachic

Fourteen year old nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a reversal of family fortune, moving house, new school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and an impossible crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life is a mess, but for now he’s narrowed it down to just six impossible things…

* * *

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood is a loose retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale with a guy as the main character. Dan Cereill’s life just kind of fell apart. His parents split after his dad came out, they lost their family fortune, he moved to a new-old house and transferred to a new school and his mom opened a wedding cake business that was doomed to fail from the start. And then there’s his neighbor, Estelle, who’s caught his eye and his heart from the moment he saw her, but had absolutely no idea that he exists.

Oh what a cute, cute book this was. Despite the dreary set-up of Dan’s new life, his voice was quite the contrary. Dan was sarcastic yet real, and he dealt with his problems with the best way a fourteen-year-old can. The humorous approach makes the entire situation just hilarious instead of pitiful, and at the back of my mind, I just thought that they would eventually get through this. As for how, that was the thing I was supposed to find out in the story. Since this is kind of a retelling of Cinderella, I liked figuring out what character was equivalent to that character in the fairy tale, even if it took me a while to figure out who was who. But even if you know how Cinderella turns out, the events in this story still took me pleasantly by surprise that, well, I just ended up sighing happily by the last page. :)

The writing in Six Impossible Things was fresh and light and so readable that I never had a hard time connecting with Dan. Dan is awkward and dorky but still so lovable that I wanted to adopt him as my little brother or something. I think his may be the first time I will use it but if there was any character that fits the word “adorkable”, it’s Dan. Even if his crush on Estelle kind of qualified as “insta-love”, at least on his side, it was still quite realistically done. Come on, don’t tell me you’ve never had a “crush at first sight” moment with someone! :P It’s not like Dan had diamond wedding rings for Estelle already. Major plus points on how Dan and Estelle’s relationship was developed — it was about ten parts awkward most of the time, but about a hundred parts cute and “aww” inducing.

The other characters surrounding Dan and Estelle were a hoot too. I loved Dan’s mom, in all her Radiohead singing glory (although I’m not really a fan of the band). I loved their friends and the guy who lived in the house behind Dan’s new house and the bully. But most especially, I loved the presence of Howard the dog. Dogs in stories always wins my heart.

Let me repeat what I first said about this book: Six Impossible Things is a cute, cute book. This is a perfect book to read when you want to relax and laugh and feel the feeling of wanting to hug a book when you get to the end. Because that is really what you’d end up wanting to do when you’re done with this. :)

Rating: [rating=4]

Other reviews:
Chachic’s Book Nook
Book Harbinger
Janicu’s Book Blog
The Crooked Shelf

2 Thoughts on “Six Impossible Things

  1. :O Not a fan of Radiohead?!?! Just Kidding. You are so right about Dan being the epitome of “Adorkable”. Yes, he is. Glad you enjoyed this one. I did too. I ended up loving Dan’s voice.

  2. Glad you enjoyed reading this one! It’s such a fun and quirky novel although I think I would have liked it more if the characters were older. Would love to see Fiona Wood write older YA. My Aussie YA purchases have turned out to be money well spent because they’ve made the local rounds :P Hey, Celina wants to borrow this after you.

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