The unusual suspects

Anon is twelve and wears smelly galoshes every day to school. Nils is twenty and can't stop thinking about what it's like to be buried alive. Zarah is seventeen and takes her seemingly perfect life for granted. But they all have something in common: they all have an obsession with a mysterious young woman. Anon found her library card and imagines finding a friend at last. Nils was approached by a flirtatious woman and got to touch her perfect face. And Zarah sees her every time she looks in the mirror - a twin she made up for herself when she was a child. Life - by way of complicated friendships, budding feelings of love, and the pull of family - starts to encroach on each of their personal journeys. But what happens when all three suddenly meet and the fantasies unravel is something utterly unique, charming, and brave.

It's funny when you find a book that's unconventional, but its unconventionality isn't its most endearing quality. Aside from some oddities and the occasional intrusion of the narrator (both fun in different ways), this is a quiet coming-of-age story about three people who choose to grow up more or less at the same time. At the same time, there's something really cut-and-dry about how it portrays the cragginess of everyday life. It really drives home the point that these three characters are lost in their fantasies. And although they all awaken from them separately, there's still a sense of satisfaction and even giddiness when they finally all meet up. In fact, their random grouping actually feels more like a reward that functions as closure.

Of the three stories, I found Anon's to be the most interesting and well-thought-out. His head-in-the-clouds personality is nothing new, but the way he draws strength from his sense of self is subtly written and affecting. On the flip side, Nils's personality doesn't have much of a distinctive spark - actually, it's only after he gets whipped into a frenzy due to an honest mistake that he becomes interesting. Zarah's character has the most interesting dilemmas, including an abusive boyfriend who really does seem to love her and a co-worker who she realizes is her only friend. Zarah starts out as being suffocatingly egotistical and dismissive, but it becomes apparent that good people bring out her good side. One has the feeling that Nilsson chose characters who all need a gentle kick in the pants in order to be as proactive in real life as they are in their heads. Adding to the weirdness of the book, there's a cutting motif near the end that signifies immediate change. It helps to tie the characters together, bonding them - and in a way they recognize this. The ending is masterful in how it offers closure while at the same time hinting at ways the story might continue.

Strange but comforting, You & You & You packs a lot of hope into its pages. If you want to feel good about humanity, or if you feel a strange longing you can't name, this is the perfect book. Rating: 4 footprints out of 5.