Hope and Other Punch Lines

I don’t know if its a product of being a teenager when 9/11 happened, but most people I know my age either don’t want to talk about it all OR they’re cynical about it. I have never been that kind of person. I am emotional so when it comes to events where a lot of lives are lost, like the Holocaust or the sinking of Titanic or school shootings or, yes, 9/11, I feel it so much and I find myself constantly surrounding myself with the stories because I don’t want it to be forgotten. I would’ve read Julie’s book regardless because I adore her but I was even more intrigued when I read the premise. The book is emotional, period. Its hard to read a book about something like this without it being emotional. Honestly, I can’t imagine it. That being said, it didn’t feel like a downer book. It didn’t feel like it existed to be sad, to make me cry. I think it touched on a lot of the aspects of 9/11 and its legacy that we sometimes forget about when we’re being cynical and talking conspiracy theories and such. Children lost their parents. There are people who still don’t have answers. There are thousands of people who are STILL dealing with health problems. And this book manages to touch on all of that in very genuine and real ways. I think Julie’s story’s strength lies in her main character, Abby. This is a person who has no choice except to constantly be enveloped in the memory of 9/11 because of the picture of her and its hard for her to deal with. She was a young child so she has very little memory of it and she doesn’t always have the same feelings as those that were there with her and yet everyone is constantly reaching out to her. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a person, a young person, and I think Abby’s struggle to balance the person she wants to be and the person that Baby Hope is expected to be makes for a really great story. I think its strengthened every more with the fact that she’s sick, she knows she’s sick but she doesn’t want to face it, she doesn’t want yet another thing anchoring her in that moment as Baby Hope. Abby is a very real, human character and I loved reading her story. I also super liked Noah as a character. I think he was such an important part of the story and such a huge reason why this book is more than just a 9/11 book. Yes, he is kind of exploiting Abby to find out about a mysterious man in the Baby Hope photo and the more you read the book, the more you understand his obsession. But honestly, its his comic relief, his striving to find humor in all situations, even in 9/11, that’s what keeps you going, what keeps a lot of the characters going. I feel like humor is a huge thing in anyone’s life to keep going even when you don’t want to. I really appreciated the humor from Noah. At the heart of the novel though, beyond the tragedy of 9/11, is a teenage girl who wants to fit in, who wants to reinvent herself, have friends, fall in love and live her life without all the other pressures and I think in any circumstances, this is not only a relatable story, but just a good one. Watching Abby grow over the course of a summer felt like privilege and I keep thinking of her, hoping but also sort of knowing that she is going to be okay.

'I know better than anyone that you can't always draw a straight line from the who you once were to the who you are now.' Rather unexpectedly, this novel stole my heart. I chose this for my book club's September selection, thinking the 9/11 aspect would make for some interesting discussions. Honestly, though, for the most part, I've surpassed the point in my life when YA novels really resonate, and didn't have high hopes. But then the sweet, fresh voices of Abbi and Noah made me smile and laugh...and I knew I'd chosen a winner. Hope and Other Punchlines, while at times, gut-wrenchingly emotional...is also funny and immensely hopeful. It's a quick, easy read told from the two protagonist's points of view. The chapters are short and direct, which I think works quite well in this format. I see other reviewers talking about the lack of chemistry between Abbi and Noah, but for 16 year old children, I thought their chemistry was off the charts. At that age, chemistry is going to be quite different than it is for those of us in adult relationships. They were beautifully perfect. And Abbi's grandma? Loved every word she uttered. She's a gem. At it's heart, this book is about so many pertinent topics--family, grief, friendship, guilt, loss....and yes, even hope. It's a joyful story I plan on sharing with my 14 year old daughter. Before I wrap this review up, I have to comment on all the people stating jokes shouldn't be made about terrorist attacks. I kindly disagree. As cliché as it sounds, laughter truly is the best medicine. Humor heals our souls. And what could possibly be a bigger F.U. to the terrorists and their supporters than seeing us happy and laughing? Even Pete Davidson, an SNL cast member who lost his father on 9/11, found it in his heart to make a joke about this tragedy...and it was funny. Anyway, I'm stepping off my soap box and recommending this book to each and every one of you.

OMG! OMG! OMG! O! M! G! THIS IS LITERALLY THE FRICKING BEST BOOK I’VE EVER READ! Tho, remember to go read the book Tell Me Three Things also by Julie Buxbaum BEFORE u read this book. Tell me three things and hope and other punch lines are my favs!

Julie Buxbaum has just the right combination of talents to make a great novelist. She so easily paints pictures with her words, weaving them into a creative, realistic plot. I could not put down this book. Ironically, her latest book is all about pictures, photos not just printed on paper, but also images -- real and imagined -- ingrained in our memory and imagination. Abbi & Noah, the main characters, although infants at the time, have been indelibly shaped by the events of 9/11. Noah is in pursuit of some "truth" to help him confirm his fantasies about his father, a victim of the bombing. Abbi, who accidentally becomes a symbol of hope based on a chance photo taken of her minutes after the buildings collapsed, like most adolescents, wants to be seen and accepted for herself rather than as "Baby Hope," her image in the photo. Their parents, in attempting to cope with their own losses and to insulate their children from pain, play essential roles in this incredibly well-written tale. As a man in his 70's, I felt a bit strange reading "Hope and Other Punchlines" while at the gym, working out, crying at the same time. But, the need to see how this plot and other equally engaging story-lines unfolded made it impossible to stop reading.

To describe some parts of this novel as moribund is somewhat of an understatement. The author aims to make the reader ill at ease with the glossing over of some of the trauma of 9/11 as memory of the falling towers fades. The romance between the grieving Noah and the sickly Abbi tests the limits of verisimilitude. Still, my students appreciated the effort to contextualize the two decade old open wound that has defined much of our domestic and foreign policy. The search for the third best 9/11 joke operates as a intriguing device to draw the nation out of mourning.

As someone who remembers exactly where I was when 9/11 unfolded, this book left me thinking about that fateful day with more clarity than ever before. This is a book about love, loss, and finding yourself among the ashes left behind. Being an older reader, I am not the target audience for this book, but Julie Buxbaum writes with unbelievable depth of character and has such a way with words. I cannot say enough good things about this book, except for the fact that you MUST read it. And then do yourself a favor and read her previous books as well - she's that good. Enjoy!

I read the description while browsing the books in Target and I was just fascinated. When I was teaching in Hawaii, I would make sure to do a special lesson every year on 9/11. I realized that my students were the very last of the kids who were born right before September 11, yet they weren’t old enough to remember what happened that day. I’m pretty sure that most of our followers at Jessica’s Reading Room are old enough to remember what happened and we all remember exactly where we were when we found out about the attacks. I was in Mrs. Hand’s 8th grade English class. Then we all trekked across campus for chapel where we had a school wide prayer meeting. Later that night, my mom admitted that she thought it was a prank when she heard it on the radio but when she realized it was serious, she wanted to come pick us up right away from school. Everybody meeting in a huge building like the Founders Memorial Amphitorium didn’t sound like such a hot idea that day. We all have stories and memories that stick in our brains down to the smallest details. This book is about a baby who was photographed being saved from one of the towers; the photo made her famous and she doesn’t remember a thing. She then has to learn to navigate her life around this photo, dealing with people who draw hope from it, even when she was too young to have any idea of what was happening. I very much liked the perspective of the younger kids who lived through it, but don’t remember. This is such a great book to have in high school classrooms and would be a great teaching tool. While it doesn’t focus on the details of the attack, it does give an in-depth look at the aftermath. Believe it or not, this was not an ugly cry book for me. I did get misty and my heat definitely warmed. I liked this book a lot and I would absolutely recommend it!

You know a book is well-written when you wish you could meet the characters in real life. Hope and Other Punchlines is one of the best books I’ve read this year. I laughed outloud and cried. Witty, nuanced, and engaging, this book was a joy to read.