Dispatches from Parts UnknownReview posted February 14, 2025.
Greenwillow Books, 2024. 7 hours, 19 minutes.
Review written February 10, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
Odyssey Award Honor Audiobook, Young Adult
I don't think I can adequately express how much I loved this sweet audiobook. Because my favorite thing about it sounds hokey - and it simply wasn't.
It's been three years since Julianna's father died, and she's still grieving him all the time. She's given up explaining to therapists about the voice of the old retired professional wrestler she hears in her head all the time. And that! That is the awesome thing about this book. The narrator reads the running commentary from The Masked Man with a gravelly voice that is always easy to distinguish from Julie's thoughts and carries lots of humor about the situations she finds herself in - like what he really thinks of the yoga instructor her Mom is dating.
The Masked Man encourages Julie to hang out in the Mall of America after school at the Orange Julius where her best friend Max works. She gets an extra orange julius for The Masked Man. Max's parents are long-time friends of Julie's parents, so he knows what she's been going through. And he's also a wrestling fan, so he understands how she misses watching wrestling with her dad.
So Julie's carrying on, outwardly getting by okay, when her favorite teacher twists her arm into being on the prom committee - and she makes a new friend, Bri. And typical high school things ensue, with the hilarity of two skater boys trying to switch the prom theme from "Enchanted Gardens" to "Top Gun Prom." And Max and Bri get interested in each other, and her mother's boyfriend shows his cracks. And the Legend is making a grand wrestling comeback in the Mall of America on Prom Night!
And - it's all just SO sweet, tender, and so much fun. I don't feel like that description adequately expresses how much. I think it did help me understand how my own adult child has gotten interested in Japanese wrestling, because Julie's doing an extended essay on the stories of wrestling and what they mean to believers and how it helps them deal with reality. As well as the sheer joy of a shared fandom.
I do recommend listening to this book because the commentary in the voice of The Masked Man is just plain charming. (I continue to be convinced that Odyssey Honor Audiobooks are always good.)