Saenz, Benjamin Alire. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life.

Saenz, Benjamin Alire. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life. Houghton Mifflin/Clarion  2017  445p  $17.99  ISBN 978-0-544-58650-5  ms/hs    Realistic Fiction  E-BN

What can Benjamin Alire Saenz say that hasn’t already been said about friendship and family relationships?  In his new novel, he explores the joys and pain of growing up, accepting oneself for all of one's flaws and foibles, accepting others, and dealing with the pain of loss.  How does one do all of this in a short, 400-plus page novel?  Saenz makes it look easy with his realistic dialogue and dialect.  He engages the reader by creating characters who are just kids dealing with all of the muck that life doles out.  He says a lot, and in a refreshingly contemporary way.  Through his protagonist, Sally, AKA Salvador, Saenz shows us a teenager’s conflicted thoughts about a plethora of issues.  Saenz’s philosophical lessons on life fit right into the flow of the text and are not forced down the throats of teen readers.  Furthermore, he encourages his readers to pause to look at their own lives to see what is truly important. 

Sally and his best friend, Samantha, spend nearly every waking moment together.  They talk, they text and they laugh.  When Samantha’s mother is killed in a car accident, Sally’s dad, Vicente, takes Samantha in, and the family becomes Dad plus two now.  Having lost his own mother at a young age (he is adopted), Salvador knows Samantha's pain, or does he?  He has felt a father’s love forever, and his struggles have been within himself.  His self-examination involves finding out why he enjoys throwing a punch at those who “dis” his dad for being gay.  His emotional growth also involves accepting the death of his grandmother, for a huge part of this book lies in the pain of loss.  When Sally’s friend Fito is thrown out of his home, the family of three now becomes a family of four with all of its beauty and angst.  All the while, Sal is looking at those around him and thinking.  As if that weren’t enough, his father’s ex returns to town, fully ready to accept the responsibility of a relationship.  In the resolution, Saenz does not "do the corny" by having Sal and Samantha come together.  Readers who love it when the protagonists come together romantically will instead fall into the reality web that Saenz has spun for them and will not be disappointed.

Summary: Salvador and Samantha are best friends who practice a unique honesty and sarcastic wit that is engaging and entertaining.  The death of a family member knocks at the door of both teens, and they learn the value of family, friendship, loving relationships and acceptance.                       

Friendship-Fiction                                                --Martha Squaresky