The Last Invisible Boy by Evan Kuhlman has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine.
The Last Invisible Boy by Evan Kuhlman has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine.
Finn Garrett feels like a big eraser has fallen on him. His skin and hair keep getting lighter, and he fears he’s becoming invisible. It starts the day his dad dies unexpectedly. While onlookers, from doctors and psychologists to spectators at a basketball game, theorize about why he’s literally fading, Finn journals (with illustrations) about his dad, his concern for his mom and brother, his love for his friend Melanie, and his own journey through grief. When Finn realizes that he really does want to be visible to the world, his color starts to return.
Finn says living on a hill puts his family a tiny bit closer to heaven, and he contends that all people and objects were either born or created. Finn is interested in the meanings of names, and many of the ones he mentions have biblical origins. Finn prays that his dream of growing old with Melanie will come true. The two try to be respectful when they visit the cemetery where his dad is buried so they won’t make God mad. Finn also likes to be at the cemetery alone sometimes so he can talk to his dad or pray. He is put off by the sentiment in a sympathy card, which suggests that every time it rains, God is crying with him, though later he stands in the rain and feels like God is washing all of the muck off of him. At his dad’s funeral, the minister from the Presbyterian Church his family rarely attends says nice words about his dad and God. Finn worries that he’s being erased for the sin of failing to save his father’s life. Mom says a “prayer” (which is really just parting words addressed to Dad) when they plant a tree in his memory.
Finn says the truth is made of clay and is malleable. If it were made of stone, he says, you couldn’t twist it but only break it. His mother doesn’t believe in anything she can’t prove. Finn draws a picture of what he’ll look like when he’s reincarnated, and he ponders what he might have been in another life. Finn’s science teacher lectures about fish evolving into land dwellers.
Finn tells his psychologist that death is when you are no more, like a notebook that’s run out of pages. He writes about Pegasus and his role in Greek mythology as though he believes the story is true. Finn doesn’t know whether his father is in heaven, floating around the universe or starting his next life. He says some people believe zombies and demon spirits hover around graveyards.
Finn offers in-depth insights about his dad’s character through his narrative and by relaying others’ memories, since his objective is to keep his father’s story alive. Finn’s father worked long hours as manager of a sporting goods store. He always feared he wasn’t giving enough time and energy to his family, so he often made up for it by taking them to play baseball at 2 a.m. or treating them to some other memorable bonding activity. When a friend of Dad’s was beaten and robbed outside a dance club, Dad flew out to care for him. Dad died of “natural causes” on the plane ride home.
Mom, a loan officer in her mid-30s, is sad and forgetful in the wake of her husband’s death. Finn says he gets away with more now, like watching an R-rated movie on TV. Mom still tries to play games with and encourage her boys. She bleaches her hair white to support Finn as his hair becomes lighter. Grandpa Vic (Dad’s father) comes to fix things around the house and make sure the car is running well after Dad dies. He’s also with the family when they get the full story about Dad’s death, and he is part of the informal tree-planting ceremony. Finn says Melanie’s father is overbearing and critical, and her mother is only around two weeks a year.
The words suck, crap, h—, darn, and fart appear a few times. The school nurse exclaims, when she sees how pale Finn is becoming. Mom says she will kick the boys’ butts in Scrabble, and she takes God’s name in vain when she learns her husband has died.
Melanie kisses Finn on the cheek and says it is medicine. Finn and Melanie like to hang out at the cemetery where Finn’s dad is buried. There, they sometimes hold hands and engage in nonsexual tickling and wrestling. One such time, Finn realizes he thoroughly loves Melanie, not just for what she looks like but for all that she is. He expresses these overwhelming feelings by telling her she is cool. When they sit, legs touching, on the bus, he feels little sparks in the air. A female is buried on either side of Dad, and Finn thinks his dad would like being squeezed between two women for all eternity. Mom tells a story about a date with Dad, on which they had their first kiss.
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