Absolutely Normal Chaos is a novel for older children and young adults published in 1990 by the Newbery Medal-winning (for Walk Two Moons) Sharon Creech. It is written in journal format and can be classed as a bildungsroman.
Mary Lou Finney is assigned a school project to keep a summer journal, which after initial reservations, she grows to enjoy. Her own story interweaves and often parallels her reading of The Odyssey; as she sets out to read Telemachus, her cousin, Carl Ray, arrives in town in search of his biological father who turned out to be, a neighbor of Mary Lou who died.
Over the course of the summer, she comes to terms with her cousin, Carl Ray, learning of the difficulties he has faced throughout his life, hangs out with her best friend Beth Ann, and becomes Alex Cheevey's girlfriend. As Mary Lou's story unfolds, she struggles with family, kissing Alex Cheevey 10 times, and her own sense of self.
When Carl Ray at first comes to live with the Finneys, Mary Lou finds it very difficult to cope with her parents, her boy-crazy older sister, and her three brothers. Meanwhile, Alex Cheevey keeps popping up around her street and her older sister Maggie is driving the family crazy over late-night parties with her boyfriend. Carl Ray finds a job at their neighbor Mr. Furtz's hardware store and eventually learns that Mr. Furtz is his real father, whom his mother was dating before she married Mary Lou's Uncle Carl Joe. Mary Lou and the rest of her family eventually come to terms with the reality and enjoy a picnic near Windy Rock.
|
|||||