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Not Quite a Stranger
A girl discovers she has a half brother
Charlotte Flannigan (Tottie, for short) leads a conventional life in a conventional family. Her father is a well-respected pediatrician, her mother a popular newspaper columnist, and her younger brother a talkative but otherwise okay kid. But on an ordinary Saturday afternoon, Tottie’s comfortable life is threatened when the doorbell rings. She answers it to find a teenage boy, who looks eerily like her father, standing there. A stranger, but not quite a stranger. His name is Zachary Pearce, and he is her father's – and not her mother's - son.
Told through the alternating perspectives of Tottie and Zach, Colby Rodowsky's novel explores the ramifications of a sudden change in the makeup of a family. Fear, resentment, desperation, and potential for love all surface in this honest and heartfelt story.
Charlotte Flannigan (Tottie, for short) leads a conventional life in a conventional family. Her father is a well-respected pediatrician, her mother a popular newspaper columnist, and her younger brother a talkative but otherwise okay kid. But on an ordinary Saturday afternoon, Tottie’s comfortable life is threatened when the doorbell rings. She answers it to find a teenage boy, who looks eerily like her father, standing there. A stranger, but not quite a stranger. His name is Zachary Pearce, and he is her father's – and not her mother's - son.
Told through the alternating perspectives of Tottie and Zach, Colby Rodowsky's novel explores the ramifications of a sudden change in the makeup of a family. Fear, resentment, desperation, and potential for love all surface in this honest and heartfelt story.
- GenresYoung Adult
192 pages, Hardcover
First published August 15, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 30, 2013
This is an unusual, thoughtful book about a unique subject, one that doesn't occur often in young-adult literature. 13-year-old Charlotte, known as "Tottie" to her friends and family, has a typical, loving family life. She adores her father, a respected and popular doctor, and loves her author mother, even though she often uses Tottie's experiences as subject matter for her column. Tottie also has a little brother who can be a pest, grandparents who dote on her, and does well in school. Her life is nearly perfect. Then one day, a young stranger shows up at the doorstep of her house, one who is the spitting image of her father.
Tottie learns that this is her 17-year-old half-brother Zachary, the product of a relationship between Tottie's father and Zach's mother when they were both in college. When she found out she was pregnant, they agreed to give the baby up for adoption. However, she chose to go through with it, keeping the baby and not telling his dad. Zach's mother has since died of cancer. Having no other family to turn to, and not wanting to go into foster care, Zach takes his mother's advice and contacts his dad. The doctor and his wife take Zach in immediately, which changes everything in the family's world. Everyone has to make adjustments at home, school, and work; Zach has to deal with a new family and a father that he's never known, changing schools, states, and his former lifestyle, all while grieving the death of his mother. Tottie finds herself feeling increasingly averse to this new family member, whom she feels has upset the balance of her life. And she finds herself felling simultaneous hurt and anger towards her father for keeping this secret from her. Zach isn't blind to Tottie's feelings towards him, and the resentment is more than mutual. Over the course of the book, Tottie and Zach both learn that even with all these changes, they can come together in understanding and love, and that there is room in this changed family for everyone, although the road to get there won't always be easy.
The story is told in alternating first-person viewpoints between Zach and Tottie, which was a good choice on the part of the author, seeing as they are the ones most affected by this change. I feel that examining the story from everyone in the family would have bogged the book down, instead of getting to the crux of the issue. Both of their voices are strong, clear, and distinctive. They both are very intelligent, with Zach's perceptiveness and feelings of uncertainty balancing out Tottie's frustration and hurt. The articulation of their changing emotions is portrayed well. Overall, the writing is straightforward yet full of subtleties, especially in the way that the characters interact with each other. By analyzing both Zach and Tottie's interpretations of the same events, the reader gets a complex picture of what's going on. The resolution at the end, where the whole family comes together and voices what they're feeling, is honest and satisfying without being too cloying, and one gets the sense that they can make this family work.
My main issue with the book, which accounts for me not affording it the full five stars, is Tottie's character. More often than not, she comes across as a selfish brat, one who is unable to show any sympathy or insight towards her half-brother, at least until near the end. She's not a villain, and I more than understand why she feels the way she does. Her world changed dramatically, and she's hurt at the fact that her family is not what she thought it was. No one really asked how she (or Zach) were feeling until later, so it seemed like she had no means to express herself, except through anger, and an act that was just plain wrong, which I won't give away here. I understand that kids can be selfish, but Tottie is a teenager, and as I mentioned, intelligent. Her lack of compassion and near-hatred of Zach comes off very badly. Zach was never rude or disrespectful towards her or anyone else in the family, although he wasn't a pushover. Unlike Zach, nothing has really been taken away from Tottie. She's still the only girl in the family, and her mother's firstborn. (I do wonder how Tottie would have reacted if Zach were a girl instead of a boy). It wasn't as if Tottie's father cheated on her mother, or withheld information about the relationship from his wife. In asides, Tottie states that she wishes her mother would just send Zach away, and tries to expose him as a fraud. As much as Tottie loves her mother, one thinks that she would put herself in Zach's shoes, imagining what it would be like to not have her around anymore.
Zach's character is also complex, one who is sensitive and unsure about his place in this new family, but firmly grounded in who he is, and who doesn't want people to take pity on him. It's clear that he and his mother loved each other very much, and that he didn't want for anything. There is an interesting question throughout the book, as to whether it is difficult for Zach to grieve for and talk about his mother, for fear that it would make others in the house (specifically Tottie's mother, who welcomed him and wasn't unkind to him) uncomfortable. Tottie doesn't understand why people gravitate to him; at first she assumes that it's because they feel sorry for him, but he's just a nice kid. When her grandparents start spending time with him, that really bothers her. It would be easy to say that Zach's mother should have just gone ahead with the adoption, or contacted his father earlier. But one can't blame her for wanting her child. As it turns out, it was the only child she was able to have. I also wanted to hear more from Zach and his father about their relationship. Although the book ends on a note of reconciliation between the two of them, it's obvious that they still have a lot to work through. Him telling Zach that he was glad that he came into their lives (although he regretted the circumstances) was one of the high points of the book.
Overall, this is a very good book, one that I like rereading. There are great lessons about understanding, forgiveness, compassion, and adjusting to new situations. There's also a more subtle message here about not putting people high up on a pedestal, because none of us are perfect. This book is very underrated, and I would like to see it get more exposure. It's an enjoyable read, and it makes a great discussion piece.
Tottie learns that this is her 17-year-old half-brother Zachary, the product of a relationship between Tottie's father and Zach's mother when they were both in college. When she found out she was pregnant, they agreed to give the baby up for adoption. However, she chose to go through with it, keeping the baby and not telling his dad. Zach's mother has since died of cancer. Having no other family to turn to, and not wanting to go into foster care, Zach takes his mother's advice and contacts his dad. The doctor and his wife take Zach in immediately, which changes everything in the family's world. Everyone has to make adjustments at home, school, and work; Zach has to deal with a new family and a father that he's never known, changing schools, states, and his former lifestyle, all while grieving the death of his mother. Tottie finds herself feeling increasingly averse to this new family member, whom she feels has upset the balance of her life. And she finds herself felling simultaneous hurt and anger towards her father for keeping this secret from her. Zach isn't blind to Tottie's feelings towards him, and the resentment is more than mutual. Over the course of the book, Tottie and Zach both learn that even with all these changes, they can come together in understanding and love, and that there is room in this changed family for everyone, although the road to get there won't always be easy.
The story is told in alternating first-person viewpoints between Zach and Tottie, which was a good choice on the part of the author, seeing as they are the ones most affected by this change. I feel that examining the story from everyone in the family would have bogged the book down, instead of getting to the crux of the issue. Both of their voices are strong, clear, and distinctive. They both are very intelligent, with Zach's perceptiveness and feelings of uncertainty balancing out Tottie's frustration and hurt. The articulation of their changing emotions is portrayed well. Overall, the writing is straightforward yet full of subtleties, especially in the way that the characters interact with each other. By analyzing both Zach and Tottie's interpretations of the same events, the reader gets a complex picture of what's going on. The resolution at the end, where the whole family comes together and voices what they're feeling, is honest and satisfying without being too cloying, and one gets the sense that they can make this family work.
My main issue with the book, which accounts for me not affording it the full five stars, is Tottie's character. More often than not, she comes across as a selfish brat, one who is unable to show any sympathy or insight towards her half-brother, at least until near the end. She's not a villain, and I more than understand why she feels the way she does. Her world changed dramatically, and she's hurt at the fact that her family is not what she thought it was. No one really asked how she (or Zach) were feeling until later, so it seemed like she had no means to express herself, except through anger, and an act that was just plain wrong, which I won't give away here. I understand that kids can be selfish, but Tottie is a teenager, and as I mentioned, intelligent. Her lack of compassion and near-hatred of Zach comes off very badly. Zach was never rude or disrespectful towards her or anyone else in the family, although he wasn't a pushover. Unlike Zach, nothing has really been taken away from Tottie. She's still the only girl in the family, and her mother's firstborn. (I do wonder how Tottie would have reacted if Zach were a girl instead of a boy). It wasn't as if Tottie's father cheated on her mother, or withheld information about the relationship from his wife. In asides, Tottie states that she wishes her mother would just send Zach away, and tries to expose him as a fraud. As much as Tottie loves her mother, one thinks that she would put herself in Zach's shoes, imagining what it would be like to not have her around anymore.
Zach's character is also complex, one who is sensitive and unsure about his place in this new family, but firmly grounded in who he is, and who doesn't want people to take pity on him. It's clear that he and his mother loved each other very much, and that he didn't want for anything. There is an interesting question throughout the book, as to whether it is difficult for Zach to grieve for and talk about his mother, for fear that it would make others in the house (specifically Tottie's mother, who welcomed him and wasn't unkind to him) uncomfortable. Tottie doesn't understand why people gravitate to him; at first she assumes that it's because they feel sorry for him, but he's just a nice kid. When her grandparents start spending time with him, that really bothers her. It would be easy to say that Zach's mother should have just gone ahead with the adoption, or contacted his father earlier. But one can't blame her for wanting her child. As it turns out, it was the only child she was able to have. I also wanted to hear more from Zach and his father about their relationship. Although the book ends on a note of reconciliation between the two of them, it's obvious that they still have a lot to work through. Him telling Zach that he was glad that he came into their lives (although he regretted the circumstances) was one of the high points of the book.
Overall, this is a very good book, one that I like rereading. There are great lessons about understanding, forgiveness, compassion, and adjusting to new situations. There's also a more subtle message here about not putting people high up on a pedestal, because none of us are perfect. This book is very underrated, and I would like to see it get more exposure. It's an enjoyable read, and it makes a great discussion piece.
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