John Corey Whaley

Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, it all disappears. . . . In the summer before Cullen's senior year, a nominally-depressed birdwatcher named John Barling thinks he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Lily, Arkansas. His rediscovery of the so-called Lazarus Woodpecker sparks a flurry of press and woodpecker-mania. Soon all the kids are getting woodpecker haircuts and everyone's eating "Lazarus burgers." But as absurd as the town's carnival atmosphere has become, nothing is more startling than the realization that Cullen’s sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, is searching for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax. Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It's about a lot more than what Cullen calls, “that damn bird.” It’s about the dream of second chances.

Listen — Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t. Now he’s alive again. Simple as that. The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too. Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars. Oh well, you only live twice.

Sixteen-year-old Solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn’t left the house in three years, which is fine by him. Ambitious Lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best psychology program for college (she’s being realistic). But is ambition alone enough to get her in? Enter Lisa. Determined to “fix” Sol, Lisa steps into his world, along with her charming boyfriend, Clark, and soon the three form an unexpected bond. But, as Lisa learns more about Sol and he and Clark grow closer and closer, the walls they’ve built around themselves start to collapse and their friendships threaten to do the same.

Solomon é um adolescente que, depois de sofrer vários ataques de pânico, não sai de casa há mais de três anos.Soloman e Lisa são os jovens protagonistas deste livro. Duas personagens completamente diferentes que se cruzam num enredo cativante que aborda questões importantes como os transtornos de ansiedade social e a aceitação daquilo que somos. Lisa é ambiciosa e quer desesperadamente entrar na faculdade de Psicologia e fugir da sua pequena cidade. Para ganhar uma bolsa, ela terá de escrever um ensaio sobre a sua experiência pessoal com as doenças mentais. Mas o que poderá ser suficientemente ousado para a fazer merecê-la? Solomon, claro. Determinada a curá-lo, Lisa entra de rompante na sua vida e torna-se na sua melhor amiga. Não contente com isso, ainda lhe apresenta o seu namorado lindo e charmoso. Mas será que a relação deste trio vai resistir quando Solomon descobrir a verdade?Hilariante e emotivo, Altamente irracional mostra-nos que existem várias formas de nos escondermos do mundo, e de que maneira o amor, a tragédia e a proximidade entre as pessoas são os únicos caminhos que nos trazem de volta à vida. Do autor norte-americano vencedor de um Printz-Award, John Corey Whaley, chega-nos esta história inesquecivelmente humana sobre o amor e o medo, a amizade e a busca pela verdadeira felicidade.Um livro que está a ser muito bem recebido pela crítica internacional, onde «será fácil os leitores começarem a preocupar-se com estas personagens inteligentes, maravilhosamente cromas e imperfeitas.» (Kirkus Reviews).