The Orphan of Awkward Falls
Graves has created a Frankenstein’s monster of a first novel, throwing in a bit of everything: robots, cloning, murder, insanity, cannibalism, and a cat who talks like a 1930s-era gangster. Moving along like a madcap nightmare, the story shifts between Fetid Stenchley, a hunchbacked Igor type who killed his mad-scientist boss 10 years prior, and the more relatable viewpoint of 12-year-old Josephine Cravitz. Josephine has just moved from Wisconsin to the northern reaches of Manitoba, where she literally stumbles upon bizarre goings-on next door. While Fetid is escaping from an insane asylum, Josephine is being captured by a robot trying to protect a young boy who secretly lives on his own. Graves presents the converging story lines with tension, mystery, and a dose of gore, as when Fetid digs up his long-dead boss in order to reanimate him: “His skin, now beef-jerky brown and shriveled, was still mostly intact.” The occasional black-and-white illustrations, meanwhile, are dark to the point of creepy obfuscation. The right kind of kid will (ahem) eat this up. Grades 5-8. --Abby Nolan