Customer Reviews

Help Me Jacques Cousteau

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I picked up Help Me, Jacques Cousteau as an impulse buy, mostly because of the title (it reminded me of watching Jacques Cousteau as a kid, my brother and me, glued to the television, hoping a giant squid would swim through the scene). It ended up being an overwhelming surprise in that it is a fantastic read.

This coming of age story about a girl named Hazel, to whom everything happens, but at the same time nothing really happens, is so well-written, the narrative flowing so smoothly and beautifully, that the pages almost turn themselves. And while it is a work of fiction, Hazel's family could be anybody's crazy, off-beat family, even mine. Nothing they do makes a hill of beans of difference that anyone can tell, and yet everything is different because of them.

I fell in love with the characters, especially the grandfather and his dead dog Rufus. My heart broke for Hazel's younger brother, Andrew, who decides to quit talking, and my Scottish blood (the bit that I have) pumped in unison with that of Hazel's mother. I had a hard time putting this book down and began bargaining with myself to get up and do something productive at the end of each chapter so I could justify throwing myself back into these characters' lives again.

It is hard to believe that it took 10 years for this novel to make a ripple in the world of literature. It's a unique story told with a confident voice, and who among us can't relate to it?

I absolutely love this book and I love when impulse buys turn out this way.

Lucy Adams, author of If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny