Before reading this book I wouldn't have thought it was possible for a story to be both shockingly dark and then whimsical within a few paragraphs. This novel is one of a kind and despite all the bad stuff going on all around, it is really a story about love. Love allows for difference, and the lead character, twelve year old Eli, accepts people for how they are in the present moment and looks for the good in their heart and soul. Sometimes there is no good to be found, and on those occasions an enemy is made, but some people with serious criminal records can have good in their hearts if you care to look for it. Eli's brother August has been mute since they were both involved in a serious accident which nearly killed both of them. They were travelling in the car with their father when the vehicle left the road and went over the edge a dam, plunging them into the water. The boys were hauled out lifeless, but by some miracle they were both revived and in tha...