”The future shortly became the past, and one could never predict how things would turn out. What was important was the current moment—this moment, right now.”
Augie and Isaac's friendship is my favorite kind.
The Tribulations of August Barton is a coming of age novel that has both quirky and relatable characters. I found myself laughing in more parts than one.
The entire cast of characters were fantastic and I fell in love with each one of them. Except maybe Rose, she was not exactly my favorite love interest and I wasn’t able to relate to her character that much. I do like the fact that the plot also focused on other characters aside from August like his grandma and relatives. The character interactions might have been one of my favorite scenes!
Surprisingly, the jokes hit me at all the right points, which I did not expect. The writing style was great and fit the tone that the book was aiming for very well.
It was fascinating to watch August’s subtle character development, especially within the limited pages of a novella. Although, I found the representation of Augie’s anxiety to be a little bit too stereotypical and over the top. However, being inside Augie’s head was still extremely relatable and there were parts that even I saw myself in him. There were some scenes that didn’t seem realistic, but given that the book is a humor contemporary, I am assuming that it has something to do with that.
There were timeline skips that went a little bit over my head but it was easy to catch up to what was going on.
I absolutely love that song that Augie sang at one point. It sounded so authentic and fit the mood; the narrator did a splendid job. James Oliva’s voice is exactly what I would imagine August’s voice to sound like in real life, so that was great. The sound effects were spot on. It helped me feel more submersed into the story. Even though it was a novella, the ending still left me fulfilled and it was a great experience.
The pacing was just right for a contemporary. I never found myself getting bored, which has been happening to me a lot recently, but I am glad to say that The Tribulations of August Barton did not get me yawning.
I would recommend The Tribulations of August Barton to anyone looking for a short and light coming-of-age novel that doesn’t shy away from saying what needs to be said. I might just check out the rest of the August Barton series now!
